


in rain or shine

by undeliveredtruth



Series: svt requests & randoms [17]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: A lot of sex and how that defines a relationship, Cat Hybrid Wonwoo, Getting to Know Each Other, Lawyer Mingyu, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Slice of Life, just life I guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 18:49:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20232643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undeliveredtruth/pseuds/undeliveredtruth
Summary: When Mingyu finds a mass of black in his apartment building, he doesn't expect it to be a human being.Like he doesn't expect Wonwoo to be a hybrid. Like he doesn't expect himself to call that number, offer a billion won for him. Like he doesn't expect to find himself with a hybrid he knows nothing about in his apartment, freaking out because this didn't go how he planned it, expected since he didn'treallyplan anything.Thankfully, it's Wonwoo.So slowly, Mingyu and Wonwoo learn to navigate their complicated relationship, get used to each other, and create something significant off of everything they've been given.





	in rain or shine

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! First off: 
> 
> T/Ws: There are mentions of prostitution and previous abuse which do feature here. It's all in the past though, except for the beginning scene, which talks about the physical consequences of abuse.
> 
> Thank you so much for this request!! As you can see, I've had a field day with it!! I think it's way more straightforward, way simpler than the rest of how I try to write, but I hope it's good and you all enjoy it! <3 
> 
> My Twitter and CC are @bbysvts. Come chat with me! <3

At first, Mingyu thinks the dark thing in their stairway is a bag or something, and he almost wants to email the apartment group again for people not to leave their trash bags just anywhere again, _for god's sake._

But then the thing _moves. _And Mingyu realizes it’s not a thing, it’s a human being. Wrapped up in dark clothes and huddled in on themselves, but it’s a person.

Mingyu doesn’t know if they saw him, so he moves a little closer, makes a little _ahem_ sound in the back of his neck. The person’s head lifts up until he’s making eye-contact with Mingyu.

“Hi. Are you okay?” Mingyu starts, bending his head a little bit, crouching down.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” the man rasps out, the sound feeling like it’s coming from his chest. He has a deep voice, but it still sounds raw, like he hasn’t used it in a while.

“Are you sure? You look hurt,” Mingyu comments, noticing his split lip, the bruises on his neck.

Minghao and Jun always told him he doesn’t know how to stay out of people’s business. Sometimes it’s a bad thing. Now... he’s not so sure.

“I’m fine.”

“Look, you seem hurt. I’m not going to do anything, but I can help you put something on those and give you some water or whatever.

It takes a long time for the man to say or do anything, simply looking up at Mingyu. Mingyu is patient, unlike his usual self, lets the man find whatever he needs to find.

“Okay. Uhm, okay, sure.”

Mingyu smiles, gets up, watches as the man does the same, standing up on unsteady legs. “My apartment’s on the 17th floor, the elevator is here,” Mingyu points. He limps a little bit as they walk too, alarming Mingyu to his condition. He has the urge to put a hand on his back to help support him, but he feels it won't be appreciated.

The elevator ride is short, but Mingyu tries to take a better look, see where he is hurt. He unlocks his apartment right as they get there, opening the door and letting the man walk in first. “You can sit on the couch, armchair, whatever. Make yourself comfortable, I’ll get the first aid kit.”

Maybe Mingyu is insane, letting a stranger into his house. But there's something that tells him this is the right thing to do, and Mingyu is just being a decent human being.

\---

When he comes back with the first aid kit, the man's sitting on the edge of his couch, looking completely uncomfortable and out of place.

"You can sit down properly. I swear I won't do anything," Mingyu says, calm, opening the first aid kit next to him.

The man gulps, but after a while of Mingyu just waiting in front of him for a confirmation, he nods, settles back into the couch. "Okay. I'm sorry." Mingyu's more patient than he's ever been in his life, truthfully, because he doesn't want to scare him away. He looks like he really needs some kindness in his life.

"No, don't apologize. Can I... I'm just going to disinfect your cut, is that okay?" Mingyu waves a cotton pad at him. "Or you can do it yourself. Whatever you prefer."

"It's okay. You can do it," he rasps out, so Mingyu lightly touches the cotton pad on his top lip, rubs it off until the cut looks cleaner. It must hurt, but the man doesn't even flinch.

"I'll put some cream on and then a bandage, alright? And then I'll get you some ice for your cheek and eye," Mingyu explains, does just that. When he comes back with the ice pack he has from too many times he's bruised himself and because of his EMT experience, he hands it to the man, but his pulled-up hood is making it a bit uncomfortable to hold to his cheek.

Mingyu thinks he has an idea of what's happening. But he waits, packs his first-aid kit back up until the man decides he's comfortable enough to take the hood off.

He's right. Two dark gray cat ears pop up from his black hair, and Mingyu tries his best to not be surprised.

"You're not going to kick me out?" The hybrid asks when Mingyu comes back with a bottle of water, opens it and hands it to him.

"Why would I kick you out?" Mingyu asks him as he drinks his water, trying his best not to show any of the emotions he's feeling, or ask too many questions. His lawyer experience is nothing but helpful.

"I'm a hybrid who’s clearly here for a reason.” He coughs. “A whore. Why would you want me in your house?"

"Because you looked like you needed help. So I don't care."

The man sighs, so Mingyu risks a question. "What's your name?"

His eyes look surprised, taken aback, but he gives in after a while, under Mingyu's questioning gaze. "Wonwoo."

"Hi, Wonwoo. I'm Mingyu. And I really want to fight whoever did this to you."

It gains Mingyu a slight smile from Wonwoo; one that says Mingyu is stupid, but that's fine. Mingyu's gotten a lot of those in his life.

"It's alright. Not the first time."

"Is it Park from floor 13?" Mingyu chances. Wonwoo's expression doesn't change. "Park from floor 12? No then. Lee from floor 7?" Still nothing.

"Kim from floor 23." Wonwoo doesn't say anything, but one of his ears twitches and his eyebrow draws minutely. "So Kim from floor 23 it is." Wonwoo's wide, surprised, panicked eyes on Mingyu just tell him so much more than anything else.

Mingyu wouldn't be a lawyer if he didn't know how to read people through and through.

"Don't say..."

"Don't worry, I won't do anything. I know all the assholes in this building very well."

Wonwoo gulps though, a little bit more unnerved than before. He didn't take Mingyu seriously before, but now that he realized Mingyu’s not a pushover, his fight or flight instincts are starting to take over. And he wants to flee.

"Do you need to go back anywhere, Wonwoo?"

"Yes. To the... house." No hybrids live by themselves, so Mingyu guesses it’s not really his house.

"How were you supposed to get there before?"

"He... he was supposed to drive me back."

Mingyu snorts. How ridiculous is this system; how would the people in Wonwoo's house trust a client to take him back after taking advantage of him like that?

"I'll drive you. Or you can sleep here for a night and I'll drive you in the morning."

"No. I'll go now, I'll take a taxi,” Wonwoo shakes his head, quickly cutting Mingyu.

"You are not taking a taxi," Mingyu shakes his head in return, dismissing the idea. “I'm not even a hybrid, Wonwoo, but you reek of sex. I haven't done anything to you until now, please trust me to not do anything from now on either."

Mingyu pulls on his voice, the voice he uses to convince his clients that his decision is the best one. It's never failed him. Because it usually is the best one.

"Oh... o-okay." He's hesitant. Clearly, he was not expecting Mingyu to be like this, which is fine by him. Mingyu knows how to switch between his real personality and his lawyer persona fairly easily.

"Before that though... take this with you," Mingyu hands him a smaller first aid kit he picked up from before. "I don't know what they give you there, but... maybe it helps."

Wonwoo takes it, puts it in his hoodie, his ears perking up instinctively, maybe without him even noticing. "Thank you. For everything."

\---

The next day is Sunday, and Mingyu's been up all night plagued by _thoughts._ Uncertainty about if there is anything he should do, fascinated by that encounter and how it feels like it threw a hatch in Mingyu's previously boring, overworked, repetitive life.

It's unsettling, the knowledge putting a knot in his throat and leaving him aching to _do something._

Before he can really think through it, Mingyu picks up his phone.

"Mr. Kim? This is Kim Mingyu, from floor 17. Do you have a little bit of time to chat?"

\---

"You're a smart one, Kim Mingyu. You're a lawyer from a good family, with a bright future ahead of you. Don't get involved with hybrids. They're nasty creatures, they'll wreck you and extort you of all your money, and before you know, you're caught in their trap and ruined, Mingyu. Take this old man's advice," Mr. Kim says, and Mingyu feels bile rise in his throat, almost wants to excuse himself to the bathroom to throw up.

What a despicable human being.

"I know, Mr. Kim, but... To be honest here, I know you're the only person I can talk to about this. I've... thought about it for years. Read a lot about it, I really... really want to try. Really want to try one of them."

The man takes another swig of his whiskey and Mingyu does the same, feels it burn down his throat like the shame from even thinking those words.

"Don't come to me after saying that I've led to your ruin, Kim Mingyu," he says, handing him the number hastily written on a piece of paper. The only thing Mingyu is here for. "I don't want the satisfaction of saying I've told you so. Fuck one of them, live all of your fantasies, and then delete the number, burn the paper, alright?"

"I'm sure I won't come back to do that," Mingyu nods, leaves, the paper burning a hole in his pocket.

\---

Mingyu turns the phone in his hands for the second time that day, sat at his kitchen island, his food forgotten in front of him.

He writes the number, stares at it, then says fuck it and raises the phone to his ear.

"Good afternoon, how may I help you?"

"Good evening. I am calling because I would like to... buy one of your hybrids."

"I'm sorry sir, you must have the wrong number, we don't..."

"One billion won," Mingyu throws, stunning the person on the phone into silence. "Where should I come to talk about this?"

\---

The building Mingyu is given the address to is the one he drove Wonwoo to yesterday, so he's sure it's not the wrong number. He's in a suit, wearing his flashiest watch, to make sure he makes an impression.

He's sure he will, but too much caution never hurt.

Walking in the building he's immediately ushered by a receptionist to an office, way too bright and lit up for what happens inside.

Human exploitation, that's what it is. Mingyu figures that's not what he's here for. Not completely, at least.

When Mingyu was 13 and told his mom he wanted to be a lawyer and to help people, his mother laughed at him, said his older brother could carry the family name so Mingyu shouldn't worry about it, do whatever he wants. It was not the first and the last time, not by far. Mingyu is clumsy, says things that he doesn't filter through his brain sometimes, has a heart too big for his brain and looks like a supermodel; him walking in the courtroom either gets him gasps or snickers.

The thing is: your family not taking you seriously is worse than anyone else doing the same. So Mingyu's learned very well how to build the kind of personality that uses all he has and turns it disarming, weakening.

So when he walks into the office, he has the upper hand.

"Welcome, please come in..."

Mingyu sits down, crosses his legs and stares at the man in front of him.

"I heard from my assistant you would... like to enter business with us."

"I do not wish to enter business with you, sir," Mingyu counteracts, making his drawl low, just a tad on the side of annoyed. "I wish to buy one of your hybrids and that is it."

"Sir... I will be honest with you and say we do not usually do that. Our hybrids are not... bred to be owned." Mingyu rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. "If you... were to buy one of them, I think you would not be satisfied."

"I believe that is my problem, isn't it? I am offering you _a billion won,_ sir, way more than three hybrids would make you in their entire lifetime. What I would be satisfied with or not is my concern. You would just have to hand them over and that is it."

This is not a matter of care for his hybrids or anything of the sort; Mingyu sees it in his face it's not that. He's just afraid it would come back to bite him in the ass.

"We can sign a contract if you wish. I swear to never return your hybrid to you, and you promise to absolutely never contact me or them again, or pretend to have anything to do with them."

"Sir... Which one... Which one is it? That you would like to buy?"

"Wonwoo," Mingyu intercepts in a second, his voice determined.

The man's eyes go wide. "Wonwoo? Sir, it's... it's old, and..."

"That is also not your business.”

"But why? Why would you...?" The man's lost control over the situation, that's clear, too taken aback.

"If I give you 100 million won more, will you stop asking?"

His mouth clamps shut, and Mingyu takes the papers out of his suit pocket, the rolled-up contract, which he gives to the man to sign. Mingyu's name is not on it, and it's practically worthless; but like this, Mingyu has just a little edge over them if it ever is to become trouble.

And then he puts his suitcase on the table, opens it to reveal stacks of 50,000 bills. The man's eyes go wide, unbelievably wide.

"I'll have to owe you 100 million; will have someone else send it to you tomorrow. Nothing else but this money, and I take _him. _Clear?"

Just one second. There's one second before the man signs the papers, hands them to Mingyu, and Mingyu closes the suitcase, hands it to him. No paper trails; even if it's sort of legal to own hybrids, Mingyu has a reputation to protect.

He shakes the man's hand, and this is it. Mingyu owns a hybrid.

\---

It's the right thing to do, but it doesn't mean Mingyu is less clueless when he is asked to wait for Wonwoo downstairs while he packs his bags. He wishes he could've talked to him before doing this, but he feels that if he did, something in the chain of events wouldn't have happened.

And then Wonwoo walks in the room, a backpack slung around his shoulder, and stops in his tracks. Mingyu gulps.

"Hi."

\---

The silence before they get home is deafening; Mingyu's head rushes with questions, explanations, excuses, maybe, ready to volunteer them. But Wonwoo sits motionless in the passenger seat, and truthfully, Mingyu doesn't feel like he has anything that’s worth it to really say.

It's been less than 24 hours since Wonwoo left his apartment, but when he walks back in now, it's _permanent._

Mingyu proceeds to freak the fuck out. _What has he done._

\---

While Mingyu tells Wonwoo to make himself comfortable on the couch because he has to... call someone, he rushes to the kitchen and dials the first number on his favorites.

It picks up in a few seconds, and Mingyu is relieved.

"Hao... I... umm, I need your help."

_"What did you do?"_ Minghao asks, his tone sharp, immediately knowing Mingyu's done something.

Mingyu would be offended. Except he.. actually did something.

"I... bought a hybrid. A cat hybrid."

_"Are you kidding me?"_ Minghao shouts in the phone. _"How? You don't... you told me you never wanted one. That you thought it was weird." _

"I did! But I didn't buy him to... well. Uhm, I just bought him because I thought he wasn't safe. And... well, now he's here, and I don't know what to do. I thought... you're so independent and he looked so independent too, that I thought it would be easy to just kind... of pay for him and set him free."

_"That's not how it works, Mingyu! Jesus. I'm coming over. Just... talk to him. Be calm. Don't say anything weird." _

Easier said than done. When Mingyu walks back into the living room, sees Wonwoo on his couch, his backpack tight in his hands, it hits him that he's clueless. He has no idea.

"Why did you buy me? You know what I am." Wonwoo's tone is flat, but Mingyu can tell the poorly hidden emotion in his voice. Vulnerability, humiliation. Something like that. Mingyu feels _guilty._

"I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to you. I... umm, you were here last night and... I don't know. I don't know why I did. I'm sorry," Mingyu speaks, but he's speaking without even knowing what he's saying, his earlier composure all but lost.

Wonwoo looks... to be honest, he also looks afraid. Mingyu stops for a second just to think about it; he's a hybrid who was probably made to work as an escort for years, hurt and abused by some of his clients judging by how he said last night wasn’t the first time, who was suddenly bought by this man who is stammering and mumbling his words in front of him, clearly clueless about what it means to actually own a hybrid.

If he were him, Mingyu too would be scared out of his mind. So he tries to gather his thoughts, cough his nerves out.

"I... I guess I don't really want a hybrid, I don't know how to explain. I... I just saw you and I felt bad, and..."

"So it was out of pity?" Wonwoo asks, his voice trembling. _Oh god. Oh god._

"No, it wasn't..."

Mingyu's door opens, and Minghao walks in, his clothes drenched, throwing his hoodie on Mingyu's chair. Wonwoo looks startled, but then he must see the cat ears peeking out of Minghao's unruly hair. Minghao must've run here; Jun and his' apartment is more than a 5-minute walk away.

"Hi. I'm Minghao," he introduces himself to Wonwoo. "I'm a hybrid too, sorry for barging in like that. Mingyu, leave," he orders Mingyu without even looking at him. Mingyu wants to say something, but Minghao shoots him a look and he wisely chooses to scram.

\---

He goes to make his second bedroom, put sheets on the bed and check all the lights and everything is working, opening the window, letting the sound and the smell of rain come in.

He's really messed up. Maybe he's done a good thing, but maybe he also should've waited a little longer. Learned more about hybrids beyond how they are always presented to humans, as sex-driven creatures of the night, even lower than human escorts. Having a hybrid... it's something of a fetish, but much, much worse. The societal stigma associated with it makes humans who are into hybrids strange, weird; owning a hybrid can become a scandal and the downfall of career, families, and so. Unless they are traditional families who have owned and bred hybrids for decades, even though those have become incredibly rare in Korea, unlike in China, where Minghao and Jun are from.

Hybrids themselves are seen as exotic objects, much like having a poisonous pet snake. You never know when they'll bite, except they are shown to possess shrewdness and logic beyond any animal. An animal with rationality, that’s how they’re portrayed.

And that's all Mingyu knows about hybrids. Knows very little about what makes them different except the fact they have heats and some bodily modifications like actual animals, and that's pretty much it.

Mingyu's screwed. Completely and utterly screwed.

\---

Wonwoo walks into the kitchen when Mingyu makes a late dinner, but Mingyu doesn't notice him until he turns around, startling with a cut-off curse. Wonwoo doesn't flinch.

“Minghao explained it to me. That you didn’t buy me for you, you bought me for... me.”

“Yeah. I really did," Mingyu nods, putting the bowl down. “I’m sorry I couldn’t explain myself.”

“Why?”

Mingyu finds it hard to put into words, what he felt when he made the call.

“I just... when you were here, I didn’t know you, but... you looked anxious, tense when you came up, but relaxed when I didn’t want to do anything to you. When we got to your building and you got off... I just. I don’t know. I just thought you... deserved it. Deserved more.”

Wonwoo nods.

“I’ll pay you back. I’ll find a way...”

“What? No,” Mingyu stops him, surprised. “No, you won’t.”

“How did you pay for me though? It couldn’t have been cheap.”

“I have a trust fund. From my grandma. I only use it...” For large purchases? Special occasions? Never? “Rarely. It’s fine. She would’ve wanted me to.”

Wonwoo nods again, his cat ears twitching. “I’ll do anything you want then. I’m... yours.”

Mingyu shivers. He really doesn’t like the sound of that. “You don’t have to. You should only do things that you want to do. Things that you like. Be free. Be you. That’s what I want.” Mingyu bites his lip, shaking his head at Wonwoo.

“It might be… hard. For me to understand what that is. I’m used to... doing things differently.”

“That’s fine. I don’t mind... waiting or being here. Before you do. I can... help. We can do things slowly.”

Wonwoo’s eyes fix on Mingyu’s, dark, but he looks less on edge than before; whatever Minghao said to him, it must've made him feel better. “Thank you, master.”

Mingyu’s heart chokes up. “Umm. Can I... can I ask you something though?”

“Of course.”

“Can you... not call me that?”

“What should I call you then?”

“Just call me Mingyu. And I’ll call you Wonwoo. Okay?”

\---

Mingyu lets Wonwoo get used to his room, lets him unpack the very few belongings he has and when he asks to take a shower, Mingyu eagerly says yes, hands him towels and says the bathroom is fully stocked with products and things. Mingyu always feels like he's at home only when he takes a shower, and he hopes that means Wonwoo feels comfortable too.

It gives him time to talk to Minghao in the kitchen, having opened a bottle of wine to share.

"So he was an escort before," Minghao starts. "You can tell. He's not scared like most hybrids who were just bought would be. Looks like he can stand his own, so you saw something right. But he's not independent, Mingyu. You can't just set him free; he probably doesn't have a family and doesn't know much of his past, if he has a happy one, which he probably doesn’t. And he can’t just run free or whatever. He's used to being owned."

"I know, I know. It was stupid," Mingyu shakes his head, sighs. "I know I was stupid. But it’s fine. I won’t send him away, would never do that.”

"You have a big heart, Mingyu. I know,” Minghao sighs. “But you have to be careful. You've basically taken the responsibility of another person in your care. Plus... you have to make sure no one finds out. Were you safe?"

"Yeah, I did everything correctly. No money trail, they don't know my name, used a burner phone. They know my face, but... It's very unlikely I'll be on the news or something, and if there's a media issue, I'm a lawyer. I can handle it."

"Okay. You at least thought about that," Minghao drawls, and Mingyu takes the hit. He deserves it.

"So what... What am I supposed to do, Hao? I don't want... I don't want him for sex. I really don't want him to feel like he owes me."

Minghao sighs, crosses his legs. "Look, Gyu. We are raised as similar to possessions. We are made early to understand that we are born to belong to someone, do whatever they want us to do. Most often it is sex, but people use hybrids as a lot of other things, like maids, cleaners, and so on. Wonwoo probably doesn't necessarily feel that way just because he was an escort. He doesn't seem to be necessarily wired up as belonging to one person just because you bought him, and that's because he was used to... being used by a lot of people. So in a way it will be easier for you to draw lines and limits as a non-master-pet relationship, I guess.

But. But. You still have to take care of him, Gyu. It won't be easy. Heats, daily life, most things... maybe his conscious understood that you don't want him for sex, but subconsciously, he's dependent on you."

Mingyu runs a hand through his hair, finishes his wine. "So do you think... it's fair for me to keep him here? Or...?"

"Yeah. I can help you with a lot, but... yeah. Keep him and I guess, help him understand how it is to live a human life. But be patient. And be honest with him. Seriously, he's incredibly smart, he's not like other hybrids. I don't think I've ever met a hybrid so aware of our world, really, because people just... dumb us down. I don't think I've ever met a human this smart, to be honest. It's interesting. I can’t wait to get to know him too.”

"Thank you Hao, thank you so much. I was freaking out," he breathes out, pulling Minghao into a hug.

"You're welcome, you idiot. Be careful, and call me, all right? I can come work from here during the day so he's not alone when you go to work these next days."

"Yeah. That would be great, thank you so much."

Wonwoo walks into the kitchen just then, his hair wet. Minghao turns to him, says he has to go because he promised Jun to get dinner together.

"Be careful, all right? I’ll be by tomorrow, but make Mingyu get you a phone and call me if you ever need anything," he says, pats Wonwoo on the arm and leaves.

And then they're alone.

Mingyu looks at Wonwoo, bites his lip into his mouth. "Want dinner?"

\---

Conversations over dinner are always less awkward, and this one isn't an exception. Fueled by good food, Mingyu can... ask.

"Umm... can we talk? Can I ask you some things?" Mingyu asks, and sees Wonwoo nod.

"Sure."

"What do you... usually do during the day? Because I know hybrids can't really go out."

"Yeah, we don't. We usually just watch TV. Sometimes I had some clients give me books, so I read those. I like reading, I guess. And we sleep, so we're... ready for the evenings. That's pretty much it."

Mingyu nods. He has a huge library, but it's mostly law books. He has to make sure to buy Wonwoo a lot of books then.

"So... during the day. Will you be okay if I leave you with the TV and my books and everything? Until we... figure out more. You can take everything you find. Really, everything. This house is yours now."

"Yeah. I'll be fine. I can also learn to cook and clean and stuff. I never have, but I should..."

"No. You don't have to. We can do that together."

"But you're at work, and..." Wonwoo's eyes widen just a little. He must think it's in his "job description" to do things for Mingyu.

"No. Doesn't matter. You don't have to do it. We do everything together, alright? I like cooking and cleaning.”

Wonwoo nods, although hesitantly. Small steps, even though it feels like Mingyu's pushing him a lot.

“Umm... can I ask something too?” Wonwoo takes a bite of food right after he does, to give him something to do.

“Of course. Anytime,” Mingyu eagerly nods, dropping food from his chopsticks. It’s too late and he’s too tired to care.

“Are you dating someone?” Wonwoo asks the question with way more confidence than Mingyu expected, making him choke just a little.

“Umm... no. I’m not.”

“Okay.”

Mingyu swallows heavily, takes a large gulp of water.

“Why though?”

“Why what?” Mingyu asks, looking up at Wonwoo.

“Why are you not dating anyone?”

“Umm, I work a lot actually. I just... don’t feel like I could dedicate time to a proper relationship.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m 26.”

“And you’re not thinking of dating anyone?”

“No. Why are you asking?”

“I’m supposed to know these things. What you like to do, what kind of girls you like, what kind of food you like, when you work, what do you like to do when you come home, what makes you stressed and what makes you happy, if you like other people next to you when you’re angry, all of that. It was in the book. About what you should know first about your master.”

Mingyu doesn’t know how to explain what he’s feeling. This kind of ice in his veins. He feels bad. And it’s going to take a lot of time to change, probably, a lot of time to get used to hearing these things.

Scratch that. He never wants to get used to hearing these things.

“You don’t need to. We can just find that out about each other over time. I don’t... I don’t need you to exist for me, Wonwoo,” Mingyu says, just the littlest bit hesitant.

“Even if you don’t want sex or whatever, I’m still your hybrid, I’m supposed to...”

“You’re not my hybrid,” Mingyu shakes his head, interrupts Wonwoo, sees the depth of the confused but determined expression on Wonwoo’s face. “You’re a hybrid who lives with me. Can we start there?”

Wonwoo gulps.

“How old are you, Wonwoo?”

\---

There has never been a more stressful time in Mingyu’s life than going to work on Monday. Mingyu feels simultaneously like everybody's eyes are on him, the shame of what he's done hanging heavy on his shoulder, but also like his mind is in two places.

Mingyu works long hours too, so he can only leave around 8 PM, probably the earliest he's ever left work in the past three years since graduating law school. Thankfully (or more like due to his family), he moved up the ranks quick, so he doesn't have to answer directly to anyone, like a junior associate.

It means he can drive home relatively quickly, pick up take-out along the way, and make it back before 9 PM; Minghao must've left a long time before, but everything is fine. Wonwoo's on the couch reading a book, one of his legal books too, which surprises Mingyu, to say the least.

"Hi," he calls out, watches Wonwoo close the book quickly, turn to him. "I'm sorry, I work until late. Dinner?" He shakes the bag at Wonwoo, who nods quickly, comes to help him set the table.

He's really careful to help, to always feel like he's doing something, even more than Mingyu. When they were cleaning up from dinner last night too, or the way Wonwoo didn’t let him clean after breakfast when Mingyu was in a hurry, but everything is put away now. Mingyu wonders if it's really his hybrid nature except he doesn’t believe in that, thinks it’s a culturally inherited trait, he really wants to help, or it’s just the fear that Mingyu will get tired of him and kick him out.

Probably the latter. Mingyu sees it in him and wishes he could tell him how he doesn't mind having him around. Mingyu was unsure too, but now, faced with Wonwoo’s uneasiness, he is the one who is surer of his actions.

After dinner's over, Wonwoo having washed the dishes with him, he gets a text from Minghao.

_'Are you home?'_

_'Yeah. Why?'_ Mingyu texts back, quickly drying his hands when they slip over the screen, wet.

_'Wonwoo kinda let it slip today that his heat should be soon. You should talk to him about it. He won't bring it up. You should... if you're not willing to spend it with him, you should buy him some toys. It will help.' _

Mingyu reads the text and sighs. Thank all gods for Minghao.

_'Thank you sm I'll text u'_ Mingyu quickly types, runs to get his laptop, corner Wonwoo before he can run away from it. He's still unsure about how Wonwoo reacts to things, barely more than 24 hours having passed since they've been living together, so he doesn't know what he'll do. He doesn’t look like the type to avoid things, but still.

"Wonwoo... can I ask you something?"

Wonwoo nods, just like last night, sits at the kitchen table across from Mingyu. His ears... Mingyu always notices them standing up against his head. They're really cute, fit really well with his appearance.

"I... don't know much about hybrids, to be honest. Like... is there anything different? Besides heats? And your ears and stuff? I don’t know, different stuff you need or need to eat or...?”

Wonwoo doesn't blush, but Mingyu's sure he is.

"Not really. We have... ears and tails, and... heats. But that's pretty much it."

Wait. His tail. Right.

"Where do you... keep your tail?" Mingyu asks, dumb as hell. His ears he can't hide, but Mingyu has never seen his tail.

"Usually under our clothes. I'm used to keeping it there," he turns around, his side to Mingyu, and all of a sudden, his shirt pokes out, makes a little tent, Wonwoo pushing it out with the tip of his tail.

Mingyu runs his eyes over the outline of it under his shirt, fascinated.

"Is it comfortable?"

"You get used to it," Wonwoo shrugs, which means it's probably not.

Mingyu can't imagine having to hide a limb literally the entire day. It's ridiculous, truly, but it's not like Mingyu can change much about hybrids' life and habits overnight.

And then... he remembers the initial topic of the conversation.

"What about... your heats. Tell me more about them."

Now Wonwoo blushes, his ears, his human ears, turning red.

"Umm... they usually happen four times a year. They can take a few weeks, but a lot of it is just pre-heat and post-heat," he starts talking, obviously detaching from the subject. It's such a difficult topic, Mingyu knows, as it's the biggest misconception of hybrids, the thing that differentiates them most and makes humans think they have the right to call them animals. “The actual heat... it takes a few days. Umm... we just kind of... our biology tells us we need a mate," he says, avoiding Mingyu's eyes. Mingyu puts his cheek in his hand and looks at him, to show he's not disturbed by this conversation or judging him.

"So our bodies just... act on that need. We... nest. Act more territorial, a bit more aggressive, and our bodies produce..." he stops. "Yeah." Mingyu nods, to show him he understood. He did some research at his desk today, during his lunch break, to be prepared for things that might come up.

"Do you usually spend them with someone?" Mingyu asks, trying to understand.

"No. Oh, no," Wonwoo shakes his head, letting out a chuckle in his deep voice. "Biologically we should, but heats are pretty gross. Nobody wants to spend hybrids' heats with us, so we just... spend them by ourselves. I'm used to it, it's fine. It's just a few days of need, but then I'm pretty good at controlling the rest. I can... also go away if you need me to," he says, looks at the table instead of Mingyu.

"No. No, hell no," Mingyu says, bewildered at the idea. "You're not going anywhere. I want to help you."

"Help me how?" Wonwoo asks, finally looking at Mingyu.

"However you need me to. Minghao told me... toys help a lot, so I can buy you some. Or... yeah. Whatever you need."

"That... that works. I don't want to bother you though. It's seriously fine."

"No. We're ordering some now," Mingyu declares, tries not to show his own burning ears. If he acts like this is normal, maybe it helps Wonwoo understand that it is actually normal and he doesn't mind in the slightest. Mingyu might not know much, but if he’s an idiot, he’s an open-minded idiot.

So he opens the website from where he's gotten some himself before. It's an expensive one, so Wonwoo's eyes bulge out of his head when he sees the prices.

"No, that's too expensive," he starts, but Mingyu shushes him.

"You'll learn I have a lot of money, Wonwoo, and I don't care about it. This is high-quality stuff, we're only getting high-quality things."

And then he starts scrolling.

Honestly, it's not the least awkward thing Mingyu's ever done. Not by far. It's actually really awkward, his laptop turned in between the two of them, browsing through endless displays of sex toys that look more and more like medical machinery or elaborate torture devices the more they move down. Wonwoo's embarrassed too, but Mingyu decidedly scrolls back up to the menu and makes his way to the dildos. It's a place to start, he guesses.

"What about this one?" He points one to Wonwoo, who swallows.

"Umm... get a bigger one."

Oh. _Okay._ Okay.

He's decidedly taken aback, just a little, so Wonwoo must notice, pulling away. "It's fine. You don't need to do this."

"No. Wait, please,” Mingyu pulls out his determined voice, and after a second of contemplation, he sees that Wonwoo does sit back down.

"Okay. So what about this one?" He points out a black one that doesn't look like it's for beginners at all, but Wonwoo nods.

"Yeah. That's... that's fine."

And that's the end of it. Wonwoo insists he really doesn't need anything else, and Mingyu can't really convince him, so that's it.

Buying sex toys is really not that common when you've only known each other for 48 hours, Mingyu guesses, so he cuts Wonwoo a pass.

When Wonwoo goes to shower though, Mingyu goes back to the website. It might be overkill, but... Minghao always talks about how his heats suck. So Mingyu adds another dildo, and a vibrator, and a prostate massager, and a set of plugs, and a fleshlight (two, maybe one for him), lube, and condoms to his cart because he ran out of them, and presses order.

God. Alright.

And then he goes to the Apple website, picks out the newest MacBook, the newest iPhone, and an iMac too, and orders those as well. He doesn't know if Wonwoo knows much about computers, but... there's a lot of possibilities and freedom packed into them. Mingyu can teach him.

\---

The third day in, Wonwoo asks him if he can do laundry. Mingyu nods and realizes he never showed him where the damn laundry room is, tucked in a corner of the apartment.

And then he realizes he didn’t buy Wonwoo any clothes. Or didn’t offer to. Something else to add to his list.

“Do you wanna wash the ones you’re wearing too?” Mingyu asks, immediately seeing Wonwoo’s ears go red.

Oh fuck.

“Not that... not that you’ll be naked. I can lend you some of mine until then. If you want.”

Wonwoo nods, slowly, and Mingyu runs to his room to find a hoodie and sweatpants, handing them to Wonwoo. He goes to change in the bathroom, coming back with the clothes he was wearing, putting them in the laundry machine.

God. It’s... someone wearing his clothes has always been just the slightest thing for Mingyu. He’s... maybe not the best at compartmentalizing things.

Wonwoo in his black sweatpants and black hoodie, both of them too large for him because Mingyu always buys oversized stuff... it’s a sight.

It’s a sight. Especially when they end up on the couch, Mingyu setting up Wonwoo’s iCloud with his payment details and handing it to him.

“I’m good with computers,” he says, takes it back with sweater paws that Mingyu should not be affected by. He’s just _so cute_ though. “We had one in the house and I spent a lot of my time on it,” he explains, and Mingyu nods.

“Truthfully, I’m better at trying to fix them than using them, so you got me beat,” Mingyu admits. He’s dropped his too many times, and even though you’re never supposed to open a MacBook, he’s done it several times when he didn’t have the time to take it in to get fixed and it still lives to tell the tale.

Mingyu focuses on his work, tapping away to attempt to write his closing argument for his case, when he glances up and sees Wonwoo deep asleep. His laptop’s still on his lap so Mingyu gently takes it away, puts it on the coffee table and watches as Wonwoo stirs, tucking himself deeper into the corner of the couch.

His hood’s over his head, his ears peeking up from under it, and his hands are tucked in the sleeves, wrapped around himself.

Mingyu really shouldn’t find this so affecting. But he likes that Wonwoo’s comfortable enough now to take a nap on the couch, finds it heartwarming, the moment really soft as he drapes the throw blanket over Wonwoo and settles back on his couch to tap away at his laptop.

Wonwoo doesn’t give his clothes back even after his are dry. But that’s fine. Mingyu really doesn’t mind.

\---

He finds Wonwoo in them just a few days after, the Friday when he comes back from work early, excited to have a bit more time to spend at home.

Wonwoo’s a fantastic conversation partner. He knows a lot about many, many things Mingyu is clueless about, and also very excited to learn new things, not bothering to not be excited when he finds himself really good at them. Like a board game, or a computer thing that to be honest still stumps Mingyu, never understanding how people are just... good at that, or making a new dish. Mingyu’s lost a lot of that excitement in the dreary hours of his day-by-day life, but seeing Wonwoo... maybe Mingyu learns and lives through him a little.

So he’s never been this excited to spend time at home, what used to be such an empty, lonely part of his day now so much more different. Even if he works on the couch while Wonwoo naps, just having someone else with him... it’s so much easier.So much better.

Walking in and seeing Wonwoo on the couch with a book in Mingyu’s clothes, an empty cup of coffee in front of him... it really feels like coming home.

“Hi,” he tells him, watches as Wonwoo turns.

It’s different though. He’s a bit different now.

“You okay?” He jumps to ask, wondering if something happened, but Wonwoo’s eyes widen.

“Yeah. Why not?”

“Oh. I don’t know. You just look... more on edge.”

Wonwoo sighs, nods his head and beckons him to the couch.

“Can I talk to you? I actually... I wouldn’t normally do this and I don’t think any hybrids do but you’ve been so kind to me so... I’m telling you more.”

Mingyu nods quickly, sits across from him on the couch.

“My pre-heat’s hitting. It’s just... I’m going to be weird for a couple of days I guess.”

“Weird how?” Mingyu carefully asks.

“Like... I’ll be more sleepy. And... I mentioned it before, but... I’ll nest. Which means... hmm, just kind of...”

He stops. Mingyu tries to keep silent to encourage him.

“Look... I know you don’t want any sort of relationship like that between us, but... I become more like a hybrid when I’m nearing my heat. And my hybrid side knows you’re my master. Plus your smell is all over this house and when I nest... I usually make wherever I am, especially if it’s home, my place. This place feels like it becomes mine with everything in it. Even if you weren’t my master, I’d still do it. Just so you know.”

Mingyu nods, biting his lips in nervousness. This is a lot.

“But you are so... your clothes, your smell, you... I will react to it. It means something to me. So just stay away if you don’t want to see me. Please.”

“Will it help? If I give you my clothes or?”

Wonwoo blinks at him, fiddles with the hands of Mingyu’s sweater. Mingyu’s sweater. Oh god.

“Yeah... probably, I guess. I’ve never had a master or anyone to spend heats with so I don’t know.”

Master. The word always falls wrong in Mingyu’s head, always sounds wrong.

But that’s what he is for Wonwoo. For now at least.

“I can give them to you. Really. Or you can just... take them whenever. I don’t mind.”

“You don’t?”

“Why would I mind?” Mingyu asks, wanting to reach out and hug him, really show him he doesn’t, but he holds back. “Anything you need. What else do you need?”

“Umm... I guess food and water. Sometimes I’m good enough to come out and get some myself, but sometimes I’m not. So if you can give me some when you leave for work and when you come back... I’ll be fine. Sometimes it hurts too much and I need painkillers, sometimes it barely hurts. I also... might get fevers. There’s a certain type of fever reducer and painkiller that happens to work with hybrids, so do you mind getting me that?”

Mingyu nods, quick.

“I was actually thinking...” he’s been reading more than he was thinking, and asking Minghao too, who’s only reinforced his thoughts. “I’ll stay at home. When you’re in heat.”

“What?” Wonwoo asks in surprise, quickly shaking his head. “No. You have work. Cases and things. You can’t stay at home for me.”

“I’ll go if I actually have cases and important meetings. Otherwise, I’ll just say I’m sick and work from home. Broke my ankle or something. I’ll limp if needed.”

“Don’t. Seriously don’t,” Wonwoo’s expression darkens, his eyes moving down. His expression’s different; maybe he doesn’t like the idea?

“I mean you can’t send me away, right? I’ve already decided,” Mingyu says, his expression final. Nobody really ever changes his mind when it comes to things like these so it is final anyway. Wonwoo not liking it... Mingyu has a feeling it’s less about himself and more about inconveniencing Mingyu.

So he’s staying home.

\---

It’s been a day since Wonwoo’s locked himself in his room, Mingyu coming in just to give him food and water when he came back from work right away. Wonwoo didn’t call him when it started, but that’s fine. Progress is slow.

It’s a Friday so he doesn’t go to work until Monday, which is great because Wonwoo should be fine by then.

But really, Mingyu’s thoughts have never strayed from how he’s feeling since he came home. If he’s alright, if he’s okay, if he’s feverish, if he needs the pills Wonwoo told him about but insisted Mingyu should give them to him only if he asks, if his toys are okay and if they’re helping, if his clothes are, if he’s feeling comfortable here.

When he sits down with his laptop on the bed, he only reads articles. The very few that exist from very small websites aimed to let humans know more about hybrids, but it’s not much. It’s barely anything to know, Mingyu feels like he’s read everything he can read.

He slams his laptop shut, throws it on his desk and drops down on the bed, burying his head in the pillow.

Mingyu can hear. He can hear Wonwoo from across the hall, his deep moans and whimpers sometimes getting too loud for him to handle keeping quiet. It’s so much, so, so much for Mingyu, what must it be like for Wonwoo?

He also hears it when Wonwoo’s whimpers turn painful. There’s no mistaking it; he suddenly sounds like it hurts, like it’s too much or he’s in pain, and Mingyu scrunches his eyes closed, furrows his eyebrows and buries his face in the pillow.

The sounds don’t go away. The walls inside the apartment are thin, even if Mingyu made sure the ones with his neighbors are soundproof.

So Mingyu sits there, listens to the groans and small sounds in Wonwoo’s voice and wonders if Wonwoo thinks of him in the same way as the others. Someone who leaves him alone right when he needs it most even though he bought him, even though he could help and Wonwoo’s clearly told him so.

They’re complicated, he knows, their relationship is. But... he’s _in pain._

Wonwoo’s heats, it’s a simple physical need. Wonwoo could use help and Mingyu can offer that help. Easy as that.

So he jumps out of the bed, opens his door and walks the few steps to Wonwoo’s, knocking on his door. He can hear the noises abruptly stop.

“Hi. It’s Mingyu... can I? Can I come in?” He asks, low, hearing as Wonwoo coughs.

“Yeah. Yeah. Come in.”

Mingyu tries the door. It’s unlocked and it opens, Mingyu walking into the almost dark room, if not for the small lamp Wonwoo has on. Rustling, he can see Wonwoo fiddling under the sheets.

“Don’t stop what you were doing. I didn’t come here to bother, I came to help. If I can help. Can I help?”

Wonwoo looks confused, his eyebrows drawn in an almost defensive way. Mingyu’s confidence slips just a little. What is he doing?

“I... You told me that it helps if you have someone to spend your heats with. I don’t... I don’t know what you'd want me to do, but I can help. I don’t mind helping. I really want to help. But if you want me to leave, I can leave. Whatever you need.”

Wonwoo exhales, fiddles with the sheets just a little bit. His uncertainty must be born from how he’s used to thinking people find him gross, and Mingyu’s honestly unsure too of how to break that for him. “Yeah. Umm, you can come here.”

Mingyu does, takes the few steps to his bed, moving the comforter to the side to sit at the foot of the bed.

“I... you bought me a lot of things. Can you show me how to use them?” Wonwoo asks, breathless, but Mingyu can see it’s not the usual him. The flatness of his tone is forced, his voice having just the slightest tremble, the flush high on his neck giving away how he feels.

“I can, later. I don't want to break you from it. I can just... I can pick up from where you left off,” Mingyu suggests, slow, guessing why Wonwoo seems restless.

They should’ve talked about this before. They really should have, but Wonwoo doesn’t look put off now that he gets Mingyu’s here honestly for him. He just looks... unsure.

“I don’t want you to feel... have you ever seen a hybrid in heat?” Wonwoo asks, low, somehow still composed. As composed as he can be, his voice giving him away.

“No. But I’m sure I won’t feel anything bad. Don’t worry about me, Wonwoo.”

“Okay. Umm, okay,” he nods, slowly pulls the comforter aside.

He's wet. The whole bed is wet, most of it caught by the towel Wonwoo put under his hips though. Mingyu can see the hilt of the black dildo he bought _in_ Wonwoo, and it’s strange. Strange to make that connection, but not in a bad way.

“Can I touch you?” Mingyu asks, a tad too quick, seeing Wonwoo nod, his eyes wide.

So Mingyu does, lightly puts his hands on Wonwoo’s ankles, moving them up, reaching his knees. Brushes over them slow, over Wonwoo’s slim thighs, checking his expression. He’s biting his lip, looking down at Mingyu’s hands, wondering what he’ll do.

Mingyu grabs on to the end of the dildo, feeling how wet it is too, and moves it just a little.

Wonwoo groans.

_Oh god._ Wonwoo’s eyes slip closed, probably distancing himself from the situation, so Mingyu has time to look. Take it in.

No. Scratch that. If he takes it in, he thinks he’ll panic and ruin all of this.

He doesn’t take it in. He pushes the dildo further inside Wonwoo, takes it out and slowly, so slowly pushes it back into him, feeling how it slides in so easily.

_Fucking hell._ God, he really didn’t think much before doing this, didn’t think about how much it would hit him too, that... this is happening.

But no. Not about him. Only about Wonwoo.

“Feeling okay?” He asks Wonwoo, picking up his pace and watching as Wonwoo nods and grabs on to the sheets, his eyes scrunched closed. He’s wearing Mingyu’s college sweater, splattered with come, and he’s a _sight._

He’s really wearing his clothes. He really is.

“I’m going to come,” he moans, his voice barely above a whisper, and does, untouched, all over Mingyu’s sweater.

In less than a few minutes, he’s gone from nothing to knowing how Wonwoo looks when he comes: overwhelmed, his expressions quickly shifting between degrees of pleasure, looking like it’s ripping from inside him, trembling and twisting on the sheets until it pops open from a corner of the bed, scrunches under Wonwoo’s hand. Silent, his mouth open like Wonwoo’s scream is so intense it died out in his throat. Too much for him until he can settle back into the bed, rest his head on the pillow.

He grabs Mingyu’s wrist with a hand, stops him from pulling it out.

“Leave it in. Please,” he begs, his eyes still closed.

Mingyu can’t tell what he wants, waits until Wonwoo catches his breath to switch on the bed, kind of unsure.

“Wonwoo...”

Wonwoo opens his eyes then, looks down at Mingyu who’s between his legs, his hands on both sides of Wonwoo’s hips.

“God, thank you. I don’t think I’ve ever come harder in my entire life.”

Mingyu didn’t even do anything. It’s... maybe it’s actually him being here.

Like this, after he’s settled, it just seems like Wonwoo has a better grasp of the situation than Mingyu. It’s probably not the first time he’s been in this position, heat aside. This... sex with humans, he knows.

Sex with hybrids, Mingyu doesn’t.

“Are you fine?”

“Not really. I’m... not there yet,” he whispers, switching on the bed to pull the dildo out of himself with a hand.

Mingyu doesn’t need to look. Mingyu shouldn’t look, really, but he does, watching as Wonwoo’s hole gapes, slick trickling out of him.

Oh god. Mingyu is _so turned on. _

He’s just... god, he’s so curious, feels a sudden urge to... reach out and do something. His hand’s wet from what he did to Wonwoo, so before he realizes, he brings it to his mouth, tastes Wonwoo on his fingers.

Wonwoo sees. Wonwoo sees, and sees that Mingyu’s not turned off by it because he’s not, and he opens his mouth in the middle of Wonwoo’s groan, watching as more fluid trickles out of him.

“Can I eat you out?”

“What?”

Mingyu _loves_ pleasing his partners with his mouth. Loves nothing more than going down on people until they can’t find words anymore, too taken with the pleasure Mingyu can give them. Loves feeling them become wet under him, guys and girls alike, loves making them feel good like that especially since it’s focused on the other person, and the other person only, making them feel good and that’s it.

It’s probably his favorite thing to do, so he’s almost not surprised it slipped out of him.

“Eat you out. Like... umm, kind of, lick over you? Over your...” Mingyu makes a motion with his hand that doesn’t really point anywhere, but he hopes Wonwoo gets it anyway.

When he does, Wonwoo’s eyes bulge out of his head, catching Mingyu’s attention.

“No! Oh no, no, that’s disgusting,” Wonwoo shakes his head, the little ears on his head pointing down, flattening on his head. “No, you’ve done more than enough. You don’t really need to help me.”

“But... I kinda want to? It’s... kind of cool. That your body reacts like that.”

“But... umm, ma... Mingyu. That’s... that’s really bad.”

“It’s not bad at all. Look. Do you want me to?” Mingyu asks, puts his hands on his naked thighs. Wonwoo looks hesitant, careful now. He’s lost grip; it’s gone beyond what he knows.

“I mean. It’s not good for you, so...”

“No. Would you want to try it?”

“Umm...” He does. He just thinks Mingyu will find it awful.“Yeah, I guess,” he says, but it almost goes unheard. If only Mingyu wasn’t focusing on him.

“If you don’t like it, you tell me, okay, and we’ll stop?”

Wonwoo nods after a long pause, so Mingyu smiles. Kisses his thigh, seeing the blush high on his chest. He’s not sheepish, never could be after what he’s done, but this is different. So Mingyu tries to be steady, calm.

It’s insane to Mingyu that Wonwoo has never spent his heat with anyone. He knows how much Minghao struggles with it even with Junhui because he’s told Mingyu that a few times.

Thinking that Wonwoo never has... that he had to be alone during the time he probably needs someone else most, it breaks something in Mingyu. He’s grown to really care for him as a friend, kind of, he guesses, in the very short time Wonwoo’s been here because of the nature of their relationship.

Maybe it’s the nature of it, but you know, maybe it’s just Wonwoo. Who’s just cool and smart and funny and cute and a good friend.

Friend, when he’s mouthing at Wonwoo’s ass, hearing his breath quicken. He’s _dripping,_ and Mingyu didn’t even touch him yet.

Friend with benefits._ Ish._

When he does, licking a long stripe over him, he can really taste him, a very particular taste Mingyu can’t place. But it’s good, and just hearing Wonwoo whine, a long, sharp noise, makes it even better.

“Oh my god,” Wonwoo mumbles, twitching. Mingyu hums, tonguing at his rim, tracing it with his tongue. He’s _so wet,_ and Mingyu loves it so much, flattening his tongue and licking, his chin digging in Wonwoo’s ass, Mingyu bringing in all the techniques he's learned when eating people out before. Wonwoo can’t stop making little noises from the back of his throat, moving his hips just slightly to grind down on Mingyu's mouth.

He's let go of his inhibitions, truly seeming like he's enjoying this, so maybe it’s good enough that he doesn’t feel like he has to manage himself. Mingyu feels proud, of himself and Wonwoo too.

When he points his tongue and prods at his hole, Wonwoo twitches, so Mingyu puts a hand on his hip, pulls away for a bit.

“Is it good?” Mingyu asks, wipes his chin with a hand. Wonwoo doesn’t open his eyes but he nods, letting out a huge breath.

Mingyu actually kind of loves it, seeing how wet he’s made Wonwoo, seeing the slick drip out of him, rubbing over his hole with a finger. Wonwoo moans, pressing himself harder, Mingyu’s finger just short of breaching him.

He can see the bottom of Wonwoo’s tail pressing on the bed, the first time he’s seen it, and he figures it can’t be that comfortable.

“Can you turn around, Wonwoo?” Mingyu asks him, patting his hips a little. Wonwoo opens his eyes now and nods, turning around until he’s on his hands and knees, his ass up.

Fuck. Mingyu might love this position a little more. Now he can see Wonwoo’s tail curling around his hip, his ass spread for Mingyu. So Mingyu presses on his back further, until his shoulders are on the bed, so he can touch him better.

“Relax, okay?” Mingyu rubs over his hip, reaches down to lick over him again, feeling how this new position is leaving Wonwoo more open, his slick dripping on Mingyu’s tongue.

Mingyu actually really, _really_ likes it.

“I’m sorry,” Wonwoo rasps, “I can’t control it.”

Mingyu makes a noise of protest, pulling away. “Don’t control it. I love it. You taste really good.”

Wonwoo moans. Louder than ever before, than anything Mingyu’s done to him. It’s the praise. The nice words.

But Mingyu’s mouth is a little occupied at the moment, pointing his tongue and pushing it inside of Wonwoo, getting as deep as he can.

The sounds are muffled and then they’re not, Wonwoo probably turning his head and Mingyu hearing the babbling coming from his mouth, the small whines and whimpers when Mingyu licks inside him, tries to point his tongue to get deep.

Wonwoo’s orgasm takes him by surprise, and he thinks it takes Wonwoo too, judging by the alarmed whine and his hands frantically finding his cock, rubbing himself off. Rivers of slick are dripping down Mingyu’s tongue, in his mouth, as he works him through orgasm; he didn’t even do much, didn’t do anything special, but Wonwoo comes for so long and tightens so much around Mingyu’s tongue that he figures it doesn’t matter. Just this.

“Oh god, please, master,” Wonwoo begs when Mingyu doesn’t pull off, the sound of _that word_ barely registering through Mingyu. He’s curious if Wonwoo can take more, but... Wonwoo’s not the object of Mingyu’s curiosity.

Maybe when he knows him better, knows what he wants more. Then Mingyu will push him on the bed and do what he likes most, give and give until Wonwoo’s a mess.

Wonwoo’s a mess and Mingyu’s a mess too, but he’s still red, still hard.

God. Mingyu could never compete with his stamina.

“Just... just let me. It’s fine, it’s fine,” Wonwoo nods, feeling how Mingyu’s a bit unsure now. He turns on his back and slips something else inside himself, the little prostate massager Mingyu’s bought and turns it on, getting a hand on his cock.

Mingyu looks, and he’s so hard but it doesn’t matter, he doesn’t feel like touching himself.

It almost felt like he was in heat himself earlier, too consumed with worry and thoughts and the need to help to think much, but now that... he’s settled down, god he doesn’t know what to feel. Watching Wonwoo like this, feverishly getting himself off, it feels like a dream, like another dimension and Mingyu’s just started to understand how to work his way around this new environment.

They went from not even touching, careful to avoid Wonwoo in the kitchen or on the couch, to _this._

Physical need. Physical need only, Mingyu thinks as he bites his lip when Wonwoo comes, adds to the mess on Mingyu’s navy sweater. His cock twitches in his pants, so hard, but he hides it with his shirt, pulls it down.

And then Wonwoo slips the thing out of himself, and looks at Mingyu. His eyes are less clouded, but they’re... too much for Mingyu to get it. He’s too confused.

“Thank you, Mingyu. It really helped. I’m feeling better.”

He is. _He is?_

Maybe if Mingyu came too, he wouldn’t feel so taken aback.

“I’m... I’m glad it did. I’m sorry I barged in. You sounded like you were in pain, so... I thought I should help.”

“You did. I didn’t expect you to, but it really did. It will be back I think, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt so okay between the heat strokes.”

He’s blushing. Maybe it’s the fever, maybe it’s not.

So it helps. Mingyu _can really help._

“If you need it, I can help. I can help with your heats.”

“You’ve done too much, Mingyu.” Wonwoo sighs. Maybe he doesn’t remember how Mingyu pretty much begged for it, thinks of it as Mingyu only doing him a favor.

Maybe it’s better this way. Otherwise, it just gets too complicated to think about.

“I haven’t,” he shakes his head. “I’m glad to help and I want to,” he gets his composure back. “Do you want to take a bath? Or a shower? Food?”

“Yeah. Bath sounds great,” he nods, sitting up and then slowly standing up on shaky legs, Mingyu’s ruined sweater falling to his thighs.

His name’s on the back of the sweater. Kim Mingyu, College of Law.

Mingyu’s screwed.

\---

It takes until Sunday night. Sunday night, Wonwoo locks himself in the room and doesn’t come out until 11 PM.

When he does, Mingyu’s on the couch, and seeing Wonwoo back to... normal, he guesses, it makes him feel guilty.

He’s felt guilty for a few days, truthfully. After he took a cold shower, gave up, and jerked off in said shower, the cold rain of the water like a punishment on his hunched back, and even as he’s "helped" Wonwoo the next few days, he’s felt guilty.

The thing about Mingyu is that when he feels a certain way, it never really goes away. He just frets and thinks it over and makes it worse.

“I’m sorry,” he starts, watching as Wonwoo settles on the couch. “I forced myself on you.”

“You didn’t. I realized you think you did, but you didn’t.”

“How didn’t I? I feel like I took advantage of you when you were at your weakest.”

“Heats don’t change the way I think, Mingyu. Heats don’t take away my agency and my power to say no. I said yes because I wanted it. And that’s it.”

“They don’t?”

“They don’t,” he shakes his head. “They make me more horny, and needy, sure, but it doesn’t mean I’ll beg for whatever dick is next to me at the time. It’s alright.”

“Why are you comforting me?” Mingyu sighs, almost pouts. He’s being petty. Is he being petty?

“Because you don’t know how hybrids work and you just wanted to help. And you did.”

“Did it really though?”

“My heat has never broken this early,” Wonwoo nods, his tone matter-of-fact. This whole stilted conversation is the epitome of them. Awkward, from two different places that don't come together yet.

Mingyu licks over his lip, his eyebrow furrowed.

“I want you, Mingyu. I know you’re telling me to do what I feel and what I want, so I’m telling you this. The hybrid part of me will always want you. Don’t even think about it.”

His words, no matter how simple, hit Mingyu like a freight train.

Wonwoo, as a hybrid, is _his._

Mingyu still doesn’t know what to do with that.

“Just so you know. You don’t ever have to ask me if I’m okay with it. Unless I say no... I’m okay with anything.”

Mingyu gulps. He never expected to hear this. Even if it’s only during his heats... it’s a lot to think about. Mingyu has a lot of thinking to do, and with every step, he feels like there’s only more to know.

“But anyway. I didn’t get to tell you... before everything. But the publishing company Minghao works to design for... they’re looking for a ghostwriter for some of their authors. They want to publish some erotica books with hybrids. But nobody will write proper scenes because they don't know how it works, so I’m thinking of trying to do it.”

Mingyu’s eyes go round.

“Are you sure? Are you... can you write about that?” With his past and his experiences... Mingyu expects Wonwoo to be turned off from the idea forever, to be honest. Of people reading sex scenes inspired by his own experiences.

“Of course. I’m not a damsel in distress, and I’m not traumatized by my past, Mingyu. If it means people will read and understand more and I can make some money too, I want to do it.”

“If you’re doing it for the money... you don’t need to.”

“I know. But still. I have nothing to do in this house, and I think it helps for money made off of us to go to us, right? If you’re okay with it, maybe I’ll donate them to a charity or something.”

“Of course I’m okay with it," Mingyu rushes out, nodding. "And I’m so glad there’s an opening and you can do it. Let me know if you need anything? I don’t know? Is your computer okay?”

“It’s more than enough, Mingyu. Thank you,” he smiles at him, a small, honest, genuine smile.

Mingyu loves Wonwoo’s smiles. Thinks they’re the nicest thing ever to see.

One day, it would be good for Mingyu to understand more about bringing them to his face.

\---

And then it’s all back to normal. Mingyu figures he’s on some level attracted to Wonwoo, but he won’t take it to more than his heats.

No. He’s not ready for that, he doesn’t think Wonwoo’s ready for that either, to be very true. He knows it, must know that Mingyu is into him, but looks more than ready to accept that it’s not something that will happen.

For a while, at least. Maybe sometime Mingyu will ask him more about it and about what he’d want too, but it’s barely been a month and a half. There’s a lot of time.

“Hey,” Mingyu starts as Wonwoo walks into the kitchen one day, looking exhausted. He knows he had a writing deadline the night before, but it’s 2 PM and maybe a change of pace is good. “Do you want to go out?”

Wonwoo’s eyebrows shoot up, taking a drink from the fridge and sitting down across from Mingyu. He must think Mingyu’s crazy.

“I’m serious. We should go to a mall, to buy you clothes and things.”

“I have clothes.”

“You have a few shirts and a few pants. No. We’re going shopping.”

“I can’t go out, Mingyu.”

“So… about that. Look. I joined a forum.”

Wonwoo turns his head, questioning. “What forum?”

“On... uhm, on hybrid owning.”

“Okay...?”

“It’s like the... modern version of it, let’s say. There are hybrids and people too that talk about... more rights. Changing things. And their experiences. One, I think you should join too. But I was just thinking... when you came into my house. I couldn’t tell you were a hybrid. Seriously. So if we go out... who’s gonna tell?”

“A lot of people, Mingyu,” Wonwoo sighs. “Most people know hybrids, more than you know. Some are trained to know us.”

“If you’re by yourself, okay. But you’re with me. Like... I don’t wanna be like that, but...”

“I know what you’re saying,” he nods. “Let me... let me think about it. And link me to that forum.”

Mingyu grins, opens his laptop and hands it to him, the page already open. Wonwoo sighs, but puts his drink down and starts looking through the pages.

Mingyu’s found it enlightening to know that he’s not the only abnormal person in this world, who finds it ridiculous that these rules are in place. He’s found it... interesting to say the least, knowing that there is an alternative. He’s scrounged for info on every place of that forum, and he’s been much more sure since. That they can do this.

\---

The next day, it’s Wonwoo who approaches him.

“Hey. I’m ready.”

“Hmm?” Mingyu hums, looking for the law he needs to reference in his case. It’s an obscure one, and very rarely used, so he really needs to strap down and figure a way to work it in.

“I’m ready. To go out.”

All laws fly out of Mingyu’s head. What even is the Constitution?

Wonwoo is indeed ready, wearing the hoodie that he wore the first time Mingyu met him, that hides his ears fairly well. Not completely though.

It’s late autumn, so for one, they’re going to need a coat, but also Mingyu has another idea. He comes back to the living room with a beanie he hands to Wonwoo, telling him to put it on. “In case your hood falls,” he explains, watches Wonwoo take it and fit it over his ears.

\---

“What do you usually wear?” Mingyu asks, driving to the mall.

“Just comfortable clothes. Sweatpants, tracksuits, stuff like that.”

“Okay. We can shop for those but hey, I was actually thinking. What if... I alter your clothes? So you can keep your tail outside.”

“What do you mean?”

“I fix my own clothes and tailor stuff sometimes. It would be easy to do it. Literally cut a hole and then sew fabric on the edges so it doesn’t fray and it’s comfortable. I have a sewing machine back home.”

Silence. Wonwoo doesn’t answer.

When he turns his head at a stoplight, he’s faced with Wonwoo’s open mouth, his eyes round with shock.

“You’d do that?”

“Of course?” Mingyu asks, confused. Why not?

“Okay then. Sure,” Wonwoo nods, rests his head on the headrest. The light turns green and Mingyu drives forward.

\---

He’s let the department store know about the fact that he’ll shop there, so right when they walk in, a cheery assistant greets them with a deep bow. Wonwoo instinctually hides behind Mingyu, but Mingyu knows it’s their job to be professional. Mingyu could show up naked for all he knows, and they’d still smile and welcome him the same way.

So he thinks it’s good Wonwoo gets to understand that, even though it shouldn’t be weird at all.

“What are you looking for today, sirs?” She asks, and Mingyu’s going to be mean here a little, keep quiet and turn to Wonwoo until the assistant’s eyes turn to him too.

“Umm...” he stutters, but quickly coughs. “I guess... loungewear first?”

“Of course! This way,” She brightens up, turns around and leads them.

"Loungewear?" Mingyu chuckles at Wonwoo.

"Do people not say that?"

"No, no, they do," Mingyu chuckles, lets Wonwoo walk ahead and follows the girl around.

\---

Two hours later, with many more purchases hanging off of Mingyu's hands, they decide to have lunch. He doesn't pick the food court, but he did his research and there's a traditional Korean restaurant here with private rooms. They don't have to be stared at by anyone, so Mingyu thought it would be better for them.

It was a good choice, judging by how Wonwoo's expression relaxes, loosens when they finally sit down. He's still wearing both his beanie and his hood.

"You can take them off," Mingyu tells him. "There are no CCTVs in here or anything."

"But like... the servers," Wonwoo quickly answers.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess. They don't care though. They wouldn't say anything. You can eat."

"I'm okay," Wonwoo nods, looks at the table. The side dishes are already set, and Mingyu ordered food from before. He picks up the chopsticks, takes a bite of the soy sauce crabs, shoves some japchae in too, hoping Wonwoo will feel alright enough to do the same. "I've never been to a restaurant before."

"What?" Mingyu throws, his mouth full but his eyes wide on Wonwoo.

"I didn't go out to a restaurant, ever. The only times I went out was to meet clients when they wanted to meet in their homes."

"What," Mingyu echoes, swallowing his food. "I never... thought about that. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Wonwoo shakes his head, picks up his chopsticks. He looks down at the foods and looks unsure.

"Have you ever had a meal like this before though? A traditional Korean meal?"

"Not with this many side dishes," Wonwoo shakes his head, still exploring them with his eyes.

"Okay," Mingyu nods. "So, I think we've had most of these before? When we got delivery, but... this is kimchi, you know that. Radish, we've had that with chicken, corn salad, we've had that before with fast food too. These are soy sauce crabs, they won't be spicy at all, these are sausages, these are..." Mingyu stops, doesn't know how to explain those. "Green onions with kind of a fermented sauce? Taste a bit like kimchi. Umm, what else... These are bean sprouts," he continues, watches as Wonwoo runs through them. He stops when he thinks he's done them all, and nods at Wonwoo. "Yeah. That's pretty much it."

Wonwoo hums, decides to start with the crabs. A bold choice, especially since it might be weird to eat them as a whole, but he picks them up and looks like he doesn't hate them. Mingyu doesn't want to seem creepy, so he picks some up too and eats as he watches Wonwoo try most things. He doesn't seem to be a picky eater, doesn't make a face at anything, so Mingyu feels a bit more relieved.

When the servers open the sliding door, Wonwoo startles a little, but quickly recovers when he sees the food. Bulgogi, kimchi jjigae, doenjang jjigae, gyeran-jjim... Mingyu wanted Wonwoo to try everything here since it's a Michelin-starred Korean restaurant, so he didn't hold back.

And they do. By the end, most of the food is eradicated between their appetites, and Wonwoo's expression changed.

"This was really good," he nods. "Thank you."

"I'm happy you liked it," Mingyu beams, his tooth catching on his lip. "I was... kind of worried."

"It's okay. I'm having a good time," Wonwoo nods, looking up at Mingyu, and he's honest.

"I'm glad," Mingyu says, honest too. He's really glad.

\---

It seems like he spoke too soon though, because after they take ten steps out of the restaurant and Mingyu's trying to figure out the way back to the parking lot, Wonwoo suddenly stiffens with an intake of breath

“Hey, Mingyu, uh...” Wonwoo’s head points somewhere behind Mingyu, and oh. Somebody’s staring at them.

Mingyu immediately reacts, puts a hand over Wonwoo’s waist, pulling him into his side.

“This was a bad idea, I knew it,” Wonwoo mutters, and Mingyu shakes his head.

“No. It was not. Whoever’s an asshole is their issue. Not yours.”

But Mingyu makes sure to keep an arm around Wonwoo or on the small of his back, despite the many bags he's already carrying.

Except when he sees something in the window of a random shop and his eyebrows immediately perk up, making a small sound Wonwoo catches. He right away sees what Mingyu's pointing at, raising his own eyebrows.

It's a cat hoodie. With cat ears on the hood. Black and simple, looking oversized too, and Mingyu picks up two, the black one and a grey one towards the back. Wonwoo follows him into the store and to the register, and Mingyu bites his lip to not say what he wants to say.

He breaks down when they're in the car, and Mingyu picks it out of the bag to test it.

"I can cut the stitching on this," he starts, excited. "Move them to where your actual ears are and cut a hole, it looks like it's made of two thick fabric parts so your ears will fit between," he tugs it between his fingers, looks up at Wonwoo, grinning, happy with his discovery. "You can wear it outside and people will think you're just a guy who never outgrew his emo-catboy phase."

Wonwoo's smiling, looking entertained by Mingyu's enthusiasm. Mingyu puts the hoodie back in the bag, throws it in the back, and turns to Wonwoo again.

"Thank you for coming out with me. It must've not been easy."

"It was fun. Thank you, Mingyu."

Mingyu grins, happy with the praise, and pulls away from the parking lot, driving home.

\---

The next few weeks mark the end of one of Mingyu's longest cases, so he's exhausted.

He's going to win it, he's sure. He's not the best closer in the city, but he's damn good, and he hasn't spent weeks and months past midnight figuring this out for it not to work.

Especially because it's important, and senior partners haven't shut up about how this firm is one of their biggest clients. Him taking this on means a significant show of trust from his firm, and he can't fuck it up.

Mingyu's biggest disadvantage as a lawyer is, however, that he can't control his emotions well. He can control them from getting out in the moment sure, but he can't control them from taking over him.

So it's 1 AM and he can't ignore the feeling deep in his chest when looking over the facts of this case. CEO of a powerful company is accused of sexual harassment by female employees. Three of them filed, but two of them were quickly settled in the CEO's favor.

In reality, there are many more. None but two are testifying. Some because they didn't want to testify in the beginning, some because they were convinced by the firm, but most because Mingyu shredded their morals when interviewing them, by discrediting them using other employees, or after the first two lost.

Some indeed lied, trying to cash into the scandal, but for some, Mingyu's used inconsistencies from their trauma to cause them even further pain from probably some of the most stressful times of their life, gaslighting some others into believing what happened actually didn't happen.

He's always told himself he'll live while searching for the truth, no matter where that truth might be. That he will try to win, make a name for himself. But recently, those two things started being way more inconsistent with what he had told his mother when he was 13. The most important thing.

It's 1 AM, but Mingyu goes home.

Wonwoo's sleeping and Mingyu hates himself, but...

"Wonwoo," he whispers, seeing Wonwoo's eyes startle awake, the little light coming from the gap between the door and the wall illuminating his features. "Can... can you talk to me for a bit?"

"Yeah," he rasps out, barely audible. "Give me a minute. I'll be out."

When he comes out to the living room, wearing one of the pairs of sweatpants and the hoodies Mingyu's altered for his ears and tail, and settling into the couch, he looks worried. Understandable, because Mingyu never woke him up before.

"What's wrong?"

"You've read my law books, right?" Mingyu asks, furrowing his lip into his mouth, his knees tucked to his chest even in the stiff suit he's wearing.

"Yeah, most of them. Why?"

"What do you think?"

"About law books? Hmm..." Wonwoo asks, noticeably taken aback. "They're... good? Clearly, our laws have a lot of flaws that have been keeping systems from quickly adapting to the fast changes in Korea, but I think it's a pretty sturdy system. I don't think it's the laws. I think our biggest problem are the people that make them the way they are though, turn them good or bad."

Mingyu nods, because he agrees... it's the people, and Mingyu's one of them.

"What's wrong?" He asks, and Mingyu frowns, tugging his lips back in a grimace.

"I don't like this case I'm working on."

"What is it about?" Wonwoo asks, grabbing one of their blankets and putting it over himself.

"It's a sexual harassment and sexual discrimination case. Against a CEO. It's done in a few days, and I know I'm going to win. They only have two witnesses who are somewhat credible because only two women in the whole company agreed to testify for the one who filed the case, as you know parties to the litigation can't be witnesses, and an audio recording that's passed and which has gotten them this far, but it's not exactly explicit in its intentions. I have way more witnesses and I know the judge's fairly partial to our side from two other sexual harassment cases I've won before, so I'll win. I know that."

"What's wrong then?"

"There were more people in the beginning. And like... the whole point of my defense is that I never tried to deny that he did all that stuff. I just tried to turn it into a misunderstanding. That they weren't fired because they refused his advances, made a fuss, or looked offended when he did, but because they weren't performing well. Or didn't match with the team. That when he grabbed their hand at a hoesik it was because he was drunk and almost fell over, and not because he wanted to put his hand up their skirts and their hand blocked him. That the conversation where he asked her to stay overtime with him is because he wanted to have a chat about rumors that were going on about how she was sleeping with people in the department. They have a terrible lawyer that couldn't break my witnesses. So I slut-shamed, gaslighted, and burned to the ground the morals of women who just wanted to succeed, used other male and female employees in the company to do so. No matter the truth... it happens sometimes, with some cases, for it to catch up to methat it feels fucking terrible."

Wonwoo stays silent, Mingyu's eyes picking up on the hole in his sock. They cost 30,000 won.

He pulls them off his feet and aggressively throws them to the TV stand, the TV stand that cost a few million won, as much as the TV on top of it. The coffee table, designer from New Zealand, supporting local communities, a few million won too. The couch they're sitting on? 20 million won, only 9 designed in the whole world.

He hates this. Hates rich people, and especially hates himself.

"Win it," Wonwoo says all of a sudden. "Win the case."

"What?"

"The damage is done. Win the case, don't unsettle anything that could come down on you or them or give the firm ideas, let the women heal by themselves. And then don't take another one again."

Wonwoo leaves. Gets up from the couch and leaves Mingyu to deal with his thoughts himself.

\---

He wins the case. No surprise there. Mingyu convinces the CEO to not file for defamation or whatever he wanted to try to do there, be the "better man."

The words stay terrible in his stomach, the announcement of the judge's verdict playing over and over in Mingyu's ears.

They throw a party for him that day at the office. Or not really, but he gets congratulated in front of the whole firm for doing a good job. He doesn't even know why. It was honestly an easy case, all three of them were easy to win, and it's ridiculous. But he shakes the hands of people in the firm anyway, bows deep and takes the compliments and the praise with a smile.

Except... his boss doesn't seem too happy. When his congratulations die down, she ushers him into her office, sits him down at her desk. It doesn't feel good.

"Mingyu..." She starts, using his actual name. "I have cared for you like a son. Sometimes I feel like your mother has entrusted you to me, and I felt the responsibility to make of you a man and a lawyer she would be proud of. And you have become a fine man and a finer lawyer."

Mingyu gulps. It's not good.

"I've heard rumors about you. I hear them often, in reality, because you know very well you are the talk of the town in this firm. But hearing... that you are keeping a hybrid, Mingyu, that I did not expect."

Mingyu's blood freezes in his veins. She knows. She _knows._

"You're not even going to deny it then, huh? I see..." She sits back in her chair, Mingyu as unmoving as a statue. He doesn't have words.

"I... I can't deny it," he throws out. He's been feeling sick for a long time. For lying, being things he's not, standing for things he's not. So at least he can stand for this.

"Why, Mingyu? You can find yourself anyone you want, I doubt any woman would be able to resist you. Why a hybrid?"

"I know..." Mingyu coughs, his lisp taking over because he's speaking too fast. "I know there are a lot of stereotypes about hybrids but I didn't buy one because I wanted to use him for..."

_Him._ Fuck. Mingyu's digging himself the worst hole here. His boss' eyebrows raise to the ceiling.

"For sex," he continues, his voice lower. "I did so because he was in a bad place and I felt bad. But then I couldn't... set him free anywhere so I had to keep him. But it's not like that. I swear."

He swears, and the image of Wonwoo glancing at Mingyu, come splattered on Mingyu's shirt on him, his hand tugging at himself, the taste of him on Mingyu's tongue, plays in his mind like a bad joke.

"Mingyu... no one will care enough to ask. You're one of _them._"

He sighs. He knows, he knows he was being stupid, but...

But. There are many buts, and one of them is Wonwoo telling him to win this stupid case. Telling him, in a few words, he doesn't deserve to feel bad for himself. Making him get over his self-pity and giving him the rational answer, not the one he wanted to hear.

Not making him a hero, but keeping him down to earth, to the reality he is a flawed human and he won't go further if he doesn't understand that.

"I know. I know."

"Get rid of him, Mingyu. Before I stop being the only person who knows."

\---

When Mingyu walks into his apartment at 2 AM, the light is on and Wonwoo's on the couch, wide awake.

"Why are you up?" Mingyu asks, exhausted, but Wonwoo slams his laptop shut.

"I want to talk to you. I thought a lot these past weeks and... there's something."

"What is it?" Mingyu asks, getting a beer from the fridge and sitting on the couch. He hopes it's fast, because he wants nothing more than to slam himself down into his bed and sleep for the entire weekend.

Wonwoo starts, hesitant but also not, determination in his eyes Mingyu's getting more and more used to seeing.

“I thought a lot the past few weeks about me. And you. And.. like... there is this thing that people who own hybrids do. We... get something implanted in us that makes us... belong. To that person. Kind of certifies it. Ordinary humans can’t tell, but other hybrids can, and like... I guess unless they’re really bad people, humans who know how hybrids work won’t sleep with or make advances on anyone that already is owned. It would make it easier for both of us, I guess.

And... I trust you. With this.”

Mingyu's jaw drops, all sleep evaporating out of his mind.

“But that... Wonwoo, that means I _own_ you. You don’t want that!”

Wonwoo’s expression immediately darkens. In his shock, Mingyu's clearly said the wrong thing.

“I’m starting to feel this is not about what I want, Mingyu. It’s about what you don’t want. And you don’t want me. I get it," he gets up, picks up his laptop, and is gone in the blink of a second, the door to his room slamming shut.

Mingyu puts his head in his hands and sighs.

\---

It takes Mingyu until 11 AM to get out of his bed, the old-fashioned clock he keeps on his nightstand ticking away with every second.

He's barely slept, too consumed with thoughts, standing up every 15 minutes to pick up his phone and do more research, look more into this, read as much as there was in forums. A lot of "modern hybrid owners" don't microchip their hybrids, it seems, so Mingyu bites his lip.

When he gets up and finally ventures out, Wonwoo's nowhere to be found. He's probably in his room, and Mingyu... doesn't want to bother him. For them to watch something or read something together or play something like they used to do every weekend. Or go out to a restaurant to have lunch, or to a karaoke practice room like Mingyu's been trying to get Wonwoo into.

Instead, Mingyu puts on his shoes and picks up his coat and trudges through the snow to Minghao and Junhui's.

\---

"You're stupid," Minghao spares him no mercy right as he finishes explaining, the steaming cup of coffee in his hand doing barely anything to make him feel better.

"I know. But I stand by what I said. It means owning him, and..."

"Except you said he doesn't want it when in fact it is you who does not want it, Mingyu. You tell him to make his decisions, but when he does, probably the most important one, you say no. That's not nice," Junhui slowly chastizes him, way gentler than Minghao.

Minghao picks up the sleeve of his sweater and pulls it up, shoving his left wrist to Mingyu. He's seen it before, but now that he knows what he's looking for, mostly, he sees the little unnatural lines on his skin, glowing silver when they pick up the light. They run from one side of his wrist to the other, but they’re so fine they don't really stand out.

"This is and it is not a big deal. For us, it was not a big deal because I got it when we were already here and had started a new life and set our boundaries. It does make it easier, in a way, to be able to meet other hybrids and set yourself as an owned hybrid. People really are more understanding of that, not because of you, but for your owner. But it is a big deal, I guess, because it means a lot. I can never marry Junhui, but this way, we are connected at least somehow."

"What does this... actually mean. Like what happens?" Mingyu asks, a bit out of his domain.

"Not much, really. You just sign a contract and agree to everything and then... it's kind of there. For people, it means that they have the right to decide for their hybrid. For us... it's just kind of there," Minghao shrugs.

"And did it affect you in any way? Like your relationship?" Mingyu frowns his lip between his teeth, glancing at them.

"Not really, no," Junhui shakes his head. "It's just more convenient because now if Minghao gets sick or something, I am able to go and see him and speak for him in... bad cases, but hopefully we won't ever be there. If there are nice doctors, it works the other way around too. And... there's less judgment, in a way?"

"Yeah," Minghao nods. "It's really helped me navigate a few places? Especially for work. Like... I'm an owned hybrid, I'm not just a crazy one running around and doing whatever. It's stupid and it shouldn't be like that, but yeah. People who know something about hybrids care about it. It's reality."

Mingyu nods, purses his lips. "I'm sorry to barge into your place like this. I think... yeah. I don't know."

"Talk to him, Mingyu," Junhui tells him, softly smiling at him. "Don't run away from it and don't assume what he wants."

\---

It takes until Sunday night for Wonwoo to decide to come out of his room properly, for more than quick bites of food.

Mingyu's in the living room, looking over his cases, when he immediately sees Wonwoo.

"Wonwoo-ya, can we talk?" He rushes out, and he almost expects Wonwoo to ignore him.

Surprisingly he doesn't, and he drops down on the couch with a quickly-made sandwich, barely looking at Mingyu.

"I'm sorry. I reacted too quickly because it was a bit shocking to me. But I see now that it was stupid, and I should've listened more, and I shouldn't have put it on you."

Wonwoo keeps silent, enough for the anxieties in Mingyu's chest to raise a little bit. Wonwoo picks up something from his hoodie pocket and throws it to Mingyu.

It's a book. A small book, with a cliche design and ears on a male model that is photoshopped to hell, him holding on to the waist of a woman with red veils surrounding them. It looks like one of the worst books Mingyu's ever seen, one of those cheap erotica ones.

"_My Boyfriend is a Hybrid?_" Mingyu asks, opening it.

"Yeah. It's really bad. But I wrote some of it."

Mingyu opens it, shuffles through the pages until a dirty word catches his eyes and he starts reading, going back a page. It's actually really well-written. At least that part, it's surprisingly good, mysterious and well-done. Mingyu is impressed.

He finishes what must be Wonwoo's part in the book, the sex scene, and then goes back to the author's, and the difference is striking.

"I made it a bit worse on purpose. Otherwise, it would've clashed even more."

"This is really fucking good. Congratulations, Wonwoo. I'm really happy for you," he closes the book, keeping it. He's going to read all of it. Or at least Wonwoo's parts, if he can't get through all of it.

"Thank you. It came with my check." Wonwoo hands Mingyu an envelope. "It says it expires in 30 days and I don't know what to do with it."

"Oh," Mingyu says, stupidly. Of course. "We can make you an account?"

"I can't be on any contracts," Wonwoo shakes his head.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't sign any contracts."

"Seriously?" Mingyu's eyes widen. "Why?"

"Because I'm not a human being, Mingyu. I don't have that right."

Oh. Mingyu's eyes immediately fall, goosebumps rising on his skin from Wonwoo's words. Fuck.

"I'm..."

"Don't be sorry. Just put it in your account and if I find a place to donate them to, I'll let you know."

Mingyu makes a note to open a separate saving account for Wonwoo during lunch break tomorrow, and looks back up at him. "About Friday..."

Wonwoo breathes in, tucks his knees to his chest. He never used to do that. It must be Mingyu rubbing off on him.

“You have no idea how hard it is, Mingyu," he starts, low. "It would’ve been much easier for me if you bought me and actually used me as I am meant to be used. To give you pleasure and do whatever you want and obey you always.

I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way, now that I know what it’s like and how real life can be like. But it’s still hard, Mingyu. It’s hard.”

“I’m sorry. I... I didn’t know.”

“No matter how much I become a normal human with a job and hobbies and dreams and aspirations, I’m still a hybrid, Mingyu. I feel emotions differently, the way I am and the way I’ve grown make me somehow different, even if I couldn't tell before and I said nothing is different between us. I won’t ever get attached to anyone else ever again. When you bought me and because of how you treated me... I like you as a human, in a human way if you will, but I also am yours the way a hybrid is. I won’t ever want to be anyone else’s ever again. That’s it for me, Mingyu. But I now get this is not the same for you, for humans in general. I can't ask for reciprocity when you don't feel like that.”

“No,” Mingyu shakes his head. “It is. It’s just... I didn’t know. When I bought you, that you would feel like that. I didn’t know many things when I did,” he chuckles, his laugh humorless. He’s really been screwing up for a long time. “And you’re right. I treated you as a human when you’re not, I tried to ignore who you are because it was comfortable for me. And I’m sorry. I am so sorry, I don’t think I will ever be able to make it up.”

“You don’t have to make it up,” Wonwoo finally looks up at Mingyu, his expression raw. It's taking a lot from him to say these things.

“I know. I know. But yeah... I think that if I didn’t like you as a “human”, I wouldn’t be able to do this. But I... I get it. I do want you, Wonwoo, and I want to give you everything I can. I know... I know our relationship is weird. So I just really wanted to make sure you honestly do too, not just because you have to.”

“Listen... rationally speaking, Mingyu... there’s no one I’ll ever find who will treat me better than you. For my hybrid side and my human side," he affirms, his voice firm, sending a ping of something through Mingyu's heart. "But irrationally too, I know it's strange and we didn't talk about it, but... listen to it now because I won't say it again."

Mingyu gulps. "I really like you," Wonwoo mumbles.

Mingyu gulps again, watching how Wonwoo's watching him now, his big eyes on him, the grey ears on his head almost flat on his head. He likes him too. Besides the difficulties of what that means, Mingyu likes Wonwoo a lot. Mingyu can see himself living the rest of his life with Wonwoo, no matter how weird that might sound.

“That’s it,” Mingyu says, convicted, way too loud. “Let’s do it.”

“What?”

“The thing. That thing. If it makes it easier for you, makes you feel better? Anytime. I’ll want forever with you anyway. So this is like platonic marriage, kind of?”

“Yeah,” Wonwoo laughs, significantly more relieved by Mingyu's outburst. “It is a bit like marriage. Except it’s a bit one-sided.”

“No. It’s both sided,” Mingyu shakes his head. “I am committing to you too with this. I really am. I wish there was something for me too.”

"You don't, Mingyu. It's alright," Wonwoo smiles, a genuine smile Mingyu is proud of making appear on his face. He grins at Wonwoo, the tension mostly gone.

It feels like the right thing. Wonwoo's not his boyfriend and won't be his husband, but Mingyu's been living with him for months now, and they've done things, and have been living their life with each other, and Mingyu's the happiest he's ever been. It's right. Fuck everything else.

“But... umm, just out of curiosity though. You said before that... people give hybrids away sometimes. But if they have this... how does it work?” Mingyu asks, curious once the excitement goes down.

“Umm. You mean what happens to hybrids if people don’t want them anymore?”

“Yeah. I guess.”

“So there’s a couple of ways I guess. If it's a sexual relationship... nobody wants a hybrid who is old. There’s no appeal. So this microchip thing can be removed, and then... we go live in shelters. Some hybrids who are still young do... go into prostitution, but if you’re old, you have no chance. Some hybrids do try to become like nannies or maids or cooks or like, things like these, where you live in one house since we can’t go out much by ourselves. If not, there’s not really anything.”

It horrifies Mingyu. Just the thought. Shelters? Like... abandoned animals shelters?

“But... yeah. We don’t live much. Our age expectation is around 40 or less, actually. Just because... if we are microchipped, our owners can decide to... There are assisted deaths.”

“What?” Mingyu’s eyes bulge out of his head. _No…_ Is he saying what Mingyu thinks he's saying?

“Yeah. It’s the more merciful way, honestly. An old hybrid is like an abandoned old dog. Useless, bound to live his life in those overcrowded, underfunded shelters, at the mercy of others, pitiful. It’s the best thing to do.”

“Are you serious?”

“I mean... it’s not a big deal. If you think about marriage, you have the right to decide to take a person off of life support right? Kind of like that.”

“If the person is sick and has no chance, yes. But not... just killing them when you're tired of them!”

“If we’re old, we are sick and have no chance, Mingyu. We are as good as dead.”

A shiver runs through Mingyu, cold through his bones. He can’t imagine this. Can’t, with the deepest parts of him, what that feels like. Living your life with that knowledge.

“I am never signing a contract or whatever with that in there. No. No. You need to have the right to your own life. Even knowing that we are different and I’ll never leave you or... no. Just no,” Mingyu shakes his head.

"I'm alright with it," Wonwoo says, like it’s simple. "I trust you."

"I know, but... just the idea of it. It's just wrong, Wonwoo. We'll... we'll try to find a place that is willing to strike that from their contract or something. I'm a lawyer. We'll figure out a way."

\---

But saying that and doing it are two different things. Two, three weeks pass, and none of the places which do the procedure Mingyu has called have been willing to even talk about it. He thinks it's time to pull the forceful option, go there and force them into it with a lot of money and something else if he can find something on like the CEO or whatever.

He's also been kept busy with work too, and... his and Wonwoo's changing relationship.

It's not really a different dynamic, but there are changes. Mingyu is a clingy person by nature, always puts his arm around people or on their shoulders or touches their arms, and he was careful not to be like that with Wonwoo, but Wonwoo noticed how he was like that with Minghao and Junhui and asked him about it, said he doesn't mind.

And then... when they're watching movies and Wonwoo's sleepy, he'll cuddle up to Mingyu, lean his head on Mingyu's shoulder and fall asleep, or while Wonwoo's reading a book and all of a sudden Mingyu feels Wonwoo's head drop in his lap. They said it once, that they maybe do like each other, but the agreement to not act on that really yet is there anyway.

The priority is maybe growing more comfortable with each other, and Mingyu doesn't mind that.

Over time, Wonwoo gets more confident too, asks Mingyu to pet him one day when he's tired and annoyed at something he won't talk to Mingyu about.

_Pet him._ Mingyu thinks he's going to have a stroke.

But he puts a hand in Wonwoo's hair, strokes softly over his hair and his ears, thinks it's like a massage. Over the tail resting on his back, feeling the soft fur under his fingers.

Wonwoo purrs. Mingyu realizes it when he feels the vibrations from the couch and over his thighs, the knowledge putting a knot in his chest.

It's _so cute_. It's just so damn cute Mingyu wants to squeal, let loose those kinds of emotions in himself he hasn't in a long time. But he doesn't, because it would be weird and Wonwoo would think he's an idiot.

But it's cute nonetheless. Really cute. Especially when Wonwoo falls asleep and Mingyu half-carries him to his bed, noticing that he's wearing one of Mingyu's sweaters again.

It's been a few months since his heat, a few months since he's moved in, around four, so maybe it's happening again.

Oh god. Mingyu's not ready.

\---

Not being ready doesn't mean he doesn't find himself on the couch two weeks or so later, Wonwoo grinding on three of his fingers in his lap, heated groans making his way out of his mouth, bitten red from him trying to control his sounds.

He's just... he's just so fucking hot Mingyu's starting to feel the lines between him helping Wonwoo through his heat and him actually being turned on by this incredible human in front of him blur. It's not right, but Mingyu's put lines and limits in front of himself that he knew he wouldn't want to hold from the start because they felt _right,_ and Wonwoo's gotten more confident with telling him he wants him, he really does, not only as a hybrid, and he'll wait for Mingyu but he wants him, and he's not weird with saying it, and those lines, really...

"Can I kiss you?" Mingyu blurts out, Wonwoo's eyes trained on him in an instant. "Can I kiss you, please..."

They've never kissed before. Mingyu's seen Wonwoo's face when he came in so many different ways, but they've never kissed, and as he feels the softness of Wonwoo's lips on his, he wonders why.

Wonwoo's intense. Intense, demanding, borderline rough, dragging his tongue over Mingyu's and his teeth over his bottom lip, whining into his mouth as Mingyu finds his spot and his hands tighten on Mingyu's shoulders.

*Fuck.* Mingyu's so turned on he thinks he's going to burst, the sounds and the warmth of Wonwoo pressed to him nothing more than pure lust. Mingyu arches Wonwoo closer to him, his cock grinding on his stomach and Wonwoo comes with a long moan muffled into Mingyu's mouth, breaking the kiss to pant hot breaths on Mingyu's cheek, trying to take as much air in as possible.

"Fuck," Wonwoo echoes his thoughts, the slick sounds of Mingyu's fingers dragging out of him really doing something to Mingyu. He's wet, everything is wet, he knew that when he suggested doing this on the couch, but Wonwoo looks so satisfied, so content, the blush on his cheeks going away marking the fact that he is feeling better now, after Mingyu dragged four orgasms out of him.

"Can I kiss you again?" Wonwoo echoes this time, and Mingyu nods, ignoring anything else.

It's softer this time. Wonwoo still takes control, but differently. He arches Mingyu's neck up by his chin so his lips meet his from where Wonwoo's hovering over him, sitting in Mingyu's lap giving him the height advantage. It's him who explores, licks over Mingyu's lip so their tongues can tangle again, soft pecks on his lips after before Wonwoo pulls off.

"I know that... we haven't talked about this but we can talk about it now. I'm okay," Wonwoo says and Mingyu nods, being able to tell his heat's broken, for the time being at least. "But I wanna reciprocate."

Oh.

"You do so much for me and I can tell that you like it too, but... if you're holding back trying to hold on to some limits or boundaries that I think we've accepted aren't really there... you don't have to."

Mingyu sees, maybe, why Mr. Park told him back then hybrids will be his ruin. No restraint of Mingyu's has ever worked with Wonwoo.

But maybe it's not because Wonwoo is a hybrid. It's maybe because Mingyu's so undeniably, irrevocably, _gone for him. _

So now, Mingyu doesn't really know what's holding him back. In the beginning, it was because he wanted Wonwoo to know it was not something he had to do; but now that they've understood and established themselves as equals, the feeling coming naturally over the time they spent together and not forcefully established, then what is?

"Are you sure?" Mingyu asks Wonwoo, voicing his questions and insecurities.

"Yeah. I really want to. You're really hot like this," he breathes out, and goosebumps raise on Mingyu's arms. Holy hell. If he keeps saying stuff like this, Mingyu might not even need Wonwoo to touch him to come.

As Wonwoo slinks down to his knees between his legs, his wide eyes looking up at Mingyu, yeah... he really might not need him to touch him.

All thoughts besides 'holy fuck' fly out of his head when Wonwoo untangles the knot on his sweatpants, pulling them down to his thighs. Mingyu's not wearing underwear, so his hard cock springs free, hitting his stomach.

He's not going to last long if he keeps looking. He's been turned on for _hours,_ days more like, the two days since Wonwoo's heat hit, and this... this is too much.

But he can't take his eyes away. Can't, can't look away from Wonwoo's long fingers wrapping around the base of his cock, his intense, determined gaze as he tongues over the head, matching that to the intense feeling.

Wonwoo's lips wrap around him, slow, just a little at a time, probably knowing that Mingyu's going to come if Wonwoo goes too quick. So he eases him into it, takes him one centimeter at a time, the wet heat enveloping him heaven for Mingyu.

He can't help but close his eyes at some point, arch his head back on the couch and grip on to the leather as Wonwoo bobs his head up and down, what he can't take with his mouth tugged at by his hand.

Or what he doesn't want to, Mingyu realizes when he feels himself pressing into the tightness of Wonwoo's throat, his eyes flying open and on Wonwoo right away, his thighs tightening so he doesn't accidentally buck up in his throat.

Of course Wonwoo can deepthroat. Of course he can, looking up at Mingyu with his wide eyes, his hands holding on to Mingyu's thighs. Mingyu's going to die here.

He still looks composed, even with his lips wrapped around Mingyu's cock, swallowing around him. Mingyu doesn't know what to do with his hands, if to put them in Wonwoo's hair; he doesn't want to force him, so he settles with futilely trying to grip at the leather couch, holding back from arching up into him as Wonwoo pulls back to breathe, his hand back on Mingyu.

"My god," Mingyu whispers, in awe. It's not... it's a lot.

"Good?" Wonwoo asks, not waiting for an answer before he takes Mingyu back in, bobbing his head quicker, tonguing at the vein on the underside of his cock and at his head.

"Imma come, I'm gonna come oh god," Mingyu frantically warns Wonwoo as an answer, watching him take him back in. Wonwoo shifts just a little, and Mingyu can see he's hard again, can see the slick on the carpet and realizes that this is _turning Wonwoo on too._ He comes so hard he blacks out for a second, twitching under Wonwoo's nails digging into his skin, pleasure spreading throughout his entire body.

Comes all over Wonwoo's tongue, his mouth, some on his chin, Wonwoo swallowing, licking his lips and driving Mingyu's world crazy.

"Holy fuck, Wonwoo, I..." Mingyu breathes out, incapable of forming thoughts. That has to be the hardest he's ever come in his life. It's the edging, but it's also how good Wonwoo is, how well he knows to build him up and make him crash, Mingyu understands now.

"I'm..." Wonwoo starts, looking a bit sheepish. "I might have ruined the carpet."

"I don't care," Mingyu breathes out as he falls from the couch to his knees too, kissing the air out of Wonwoo and pushing him with his back to the fluffy carpet, Mingyu hovering over him.

There haven't been any real lines or boundaries for a long time, especially when they're like this. Mingyu gets his hand on Wonwoo's cock and makes him come in a minute, sees how Wonwoo's dripping, still in his heat even if this is not a heat orgasm. Wonwoo gasps into his mouth and trembles under Mingyu, and Mingyu couldn't care about anything else.

\---

It's unsettling how things go back to normal after that. When Wonwoo's in his heat...maybe lines get blurred or disappear, but when he's not, Mingyu doesn't know how to act. He doesn't know how to get over himself and those ideas in his head that hold him back even after Wonwoo explicitly told him he doesn't care about them.

It helps that what he's been ignoring for months now comes to head again: his work. His boss especially, who suspects that Mingyu stayed home for three days in the middle of the week two weeks before and then came back to work fully healed, no cold.

Mingyu lies. He lies for the first time to her, says that "his hybrid isn't with him anymore," and that's when he knows it's not sustainable.

In his office later that day, staring at Wonwoo's name on his phone, that he's more conflicted than he's ever been. Staring out of the glass doors of his office and into his boss', he's conflicted.

His work has never taken second place for him. But these past few months, going to work has started feeling more like work and not his life. Mingyu has another life now, a life where he goes out to fancy restaurants or eats delivery food at home, where they go shopping to the mall or shop online at home, or when they go into a bookstore and pick up dozens of books and then read them together, and it's all the same because it's Wonwoo. A life where he's clearly trying to slowly build something with someone who shouldn't be there, and it's clear his heart is there. And that's only making him unhappy with where he is right now.

\---

When he gets home that night, Mingyu drops on the couch, and Wonwoo comes to him right away, plops down on the couch, his chest in Mingyu’s lap.

Affection comes to Wonwoo naturally when it’s on his terms, when it’s him who wants to be touched and comforted. Like a cat. But instead of rubbing on his leg, Wonwoo drops in Mingyu’s lap and lazily waves his tail.

“Tired?”

“Mhm. Wrote a lot today.”

Mingyu gets the message loud and clear. He strokes a hand through Wonwoo’s hair, lightly smoothing over his ears, and another one on his tail, catching it between his fingers.

He purrs. Wonwoo purrs, the deep sound coming from within his chest, the vibrations running over Mingyu’s thighs. He loves it when Wonwoo purrs, can only imagine the deep comfort and satisfaction he feels when Mingyu pets him. It's not a human feeling, but it sounds fun. Mingyu would love to experience it.

He smooths his hand over Wonwoo’s back, lightly pushing, massaging him, smoothing a hand over his tail again and again, feeling him relax in his lap.

So he barely notices when Wonwoo starts barely moving his hips, arching up into him and bringing himself back down on the sofa, and _oh. _

Mingyu subconsciously stops, surprised, and he can tell when Wonwoo realizes it, the split second of breaking from the trance he was in.

He moves in an instant, but Mingyu stops him with a hand on his back.

“It doesn’t...” he coughs, his voice raspy. “It doesn’t only have to be when you’re in heat. I’m... we can do it outside too.”

Wonwoo stops, his eyes on Mingyu large, searching for whatever he needs to find.

He relaxes back in Mingyu’s lap, his face buried in a pillow cushion, and Mingyu hesitantly lays a hand back on his tail, stroking it. It takes longer for Wonwoo to slip back into that state, his purring low and barely audible, but soon enough, his hips are drawing circles on the couch, his ass arched up into Mingyu’s hand.

He can’t help it, really. Can’t help but take a fistful of his clothed cheek, watching as Wonwoo bends his leg so he can grind deeper on the couch, arch more into Mingyu. Mingyu pulls at strands of hair, smooths it over his ears, strokes his tail and encourages him with little whispers.

_Fuck_ he’s hot. This... Wonwoo in his lap, lost with pleasure, tensing up and arching into Mingyu, deep purrs vibrating in his chest... it’s turning him on beyond belief. Maybe Wonwoo can tell that he’s kind of hard, but that’s not the focus. Mingyu focuses on helping Wonwoo, scratching at him until he tenses up and comes with a choked-up moan, gripping the edge of the couch and Mingyu’s thigh.

And then it’s a second before he ends up with an armful of Wonwoo straddling his lap, arching his back to fit his head in his chest. He needs comfort.

It was a long time until he learned that, that Wonwoo needs comfort after sex, reassurance that he doesn’t have to go. That it meant something and he won’t be pushed away when his partner’s desires are fulfilled. Especially when he was the one who was vulnerable, who let go and opened himself for his partner.

Mingyu hugs his middle, wraps his arms around his back. Like this, Wonwoo’s tail wraps around his arm, the tip of it slowly going tap-tap on his bicep, settling in a rhythm on his skin.

“Should I...”

Mingyu hums a negative. Not... not now. “No. I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry."

“Why are you apologizing? That was hot. I like getting you off.”

“I usually... don’t get turned on when you do that. But I had to write about hybrids getting fucked the entire day and I think I was a bit on edge.”

Mingyu huffs a chuckle, wrapping his arms tighter around Wonwoo. You wouldn’t think of him as a cuddler, but Mingyu’s often proven the opposite these days.

Which works perfectly, because Mingyu _loves_ cuddling, especially when it’s Wonwoo in his lap.

“So we’re fine, right?” He asks Wonwoo, rubbing his back.

“Yeah. I know we didn’t talk about this, but... yeah.”

“We don’t have to talk about everything if none of us wanna talk about it. You want it, I want it. Just sex. It’s okay. Right?”

“I... yeah. It’s more than okay.”

Mingyu thinks most of the advances in their relationship come after or as a result of sex. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing.

Mingyu knows sex. Sex is common, sex can be simple, can include nothing of the complicated nuances of a relationship like theirs, where they have to unknot tangles at every step.

Wonwoo knows sex because it’s what he’s done for a long time. Knows how to separate sex as bodily pleasure from who he is, but also knows how to let it mean something, which Mingyu didn’t expect, but it doesn’t mean it’s not being proven true.

Sex means an easy connection, but it also doesn’t simply mean getting off. It means understanding someone as they are at their rawest, trusting someone with the deepest parts of themselves.

Maybe that’s what he and Wonwoo need. Understanding who each other are beyond labels, expectations, and their pasts. So maybe it comes easier like this. So what?

\---

The drafted letter has been sitting in his drawer for weeks. It's been in Mingyu's mind for more than that, maybe for months, for years, since before he's met Wonwoo a few months before.

Mingyu hates proving his mother right, but as he goes to his boss' office and hands it to her, he thinks it's not proving his mother right. It's proving himself, the real part of himself, right.

"What is this?" His boss asks, confused at the envelope in her hand.

"It's my resignation letter."

Her eyes shoot up to his, baffled. Mingyu stands straight in his chair and faces her eyes.

"Mingyu..."

"I'm leaving. I apologize, I know this is not an easy thing to do, and I will be staying here for 30 more days to ensure all my clients know about this and can be transferred to another lawyer that knows about the case. Maybe this is the time to promote that Park kid to a junior associate."

"Mingyu, why...?" She asks, completely struck. Mingyu respects her. She's a woman who's fought for where she is more than Mingyu will ever be capable of understanding, a woman leading a law firm in South Korea. But she doesn't understand him. And that's alright.

"I think it's time for me to be honest with myself the way I haven't been for a few years. I'm sorry if this puts you in a difficult position, but..."

"Is your mother alright with this?" She asks him, not even letting him finish.

"I do not know. I shall see later. Thank you so much for everything. And I am here to help with whatever I can, with old clients or whatever you might need."

Mingyu leaves. And that day, when he leaves work, even if he has to come back for 30 days, he feels freer than he ever has.

He finds Wonwoo on the couch, reading a book, like always. But it's with a spring in his step now that he sits down next to him and picks up the book from his hands.

"I quit."

"What?" Wonwoo turns to him, taken aback.

"I quit my job. I'm leaving the firm."

"Why?"

"I don't want to do it anymore. I don't think it's for me."

"But Mingyu..."

"Can I tell you something first? I swear I didn't do it out of the blue," he tells Wonwoo, settles deeper into the couch.

"All over the world... there are these research places. They're pretty new, some a few months old, and they... do a lot of work with hybrids. Research not like medical research, but like legal research, things like that, trying to change laws and things. Some of them also opened emergency shelters and medical response places to help, and... there's a pretty big one in Korea. Not in Seoul, but in Gwangju. And... I thought... we could go. Work there together. They always need hybrids to help because not many do, and I have legal knowledge, so..."

"Let's go," Wonwoo tells him, no shred of hesitation.

"Wh... _really?_"

"Did you think I was going to say no? If you want to, Mingyu, I'd be nothing more than happy to."

"Seriously?"

"I also have been looking into them, seeing if I could donate to them. The amount of money I have is little, but I thought I could help. I wanted to volunteer to help from afar too, but if you want to go, I am with you."

Mingyu didn't expect Wonwoo to agree so quickly. But then now that he thinks about it, why didn't he?

"Really? Even if we have to live like probably in a shittier apartment and we'll have to work harder?"

Wonwoo rolls his eyes. "You know I don't care about things like these, Mingyu. I don't care about money or anything. We'll figure it out. Are _you_ okay with it?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Before I did it, before I quit, I secured my grandmother's trust fund, which has... a few billion won. My family will likely disown me so I'll lose my apartment, but I have that, and what I've saved from my salaries, which is also a significant amount, I guess. I kind of don't want to touch the trust fund because it's for emergencies, so..."

"We won't. We'll find work. Both of us. I'll try harder too. It will be fine."

"Okay," Mingyu nods, determined. "Let's talk to them then."

\---

Mingyu didn't know what he expected when he walked into the apartment which is the center's "headquarters," but this wasn't it.

"Chan, who is it?" Someone shouts from inside the apartment, piles of books all the way from the entrance.

"Sorry, we didn't have time to sort through books we just got," the boy (because he looks so young), lets them into the living room, where a few people are lazing around on the couch reading or being on their laptop, surrounded by more piles of books and files. Mingyu feels the urge in his fingers to clean up, put an order in this mess, but he doesn't comment on anything. In front of him, Wonwoo turns to him and gives him a potent glance. "It's the two people who called us, hyung!" The boy answers back, and from another room, a black-haired man stumbles out.

"Oh shit, I forgot, sorry," he bows down quickly, looking slightly ruffled. "I'm Seungcheol. I'm..."

"He's the leader!" Someone else shouts, and the man, Seungcheol, throws them a glance.

"Yeah. You talked to me on the phone. It is nice to meet you," he squeezes Wonwoo's hand and then Mingyu's, bowing to them. "Sorry it's... such a mess around here."

"That's alright," Wonwoo says, because he knows Mingyu would make an off-handed comment. "It is nice to meet you too."

"Do you want to sit down?" He points at a sofa two people make empty, just big enough for two, and Mingyu sits down next to Wonwoo, touches his knee to Wonwoo's thigh. They all look ruffled, kind of, but also curious, bright, throwing kind glances at him and Wonwoo, so Mingyu's quite endeared, his previous doubts mostly cleared.

"Jeonghan, Seokmin! Come here!" Seungcheol shouts, and soon enough, two other people come into the crowded living room. Mingyu does a quick headcount: 9. "Sorry for being so unprepared. Do you want anything? Coffee, water?"

"We're okay," Wonwoo nods, and they watch as all nine of the boys sit down around the other couch and the chairs in the living room, some on the floor, some on the arms of the sofa.

"It is nice to meet you, really. We don't get a lot of people who want to work with us, especially... such a high profile lawyer and a hybrid who knows so much, so we're... kind of still in shock," a soft-spoken man says, smiling.

Mingyu does another quick run, sees that there are only two hybrids between them. That's alright. It is indeed rare for hybrids to want to get involved, so it's alright. Wonwoo doesn't look uncomfortable, which tells Mingyu enough.

"We're happy to be here," Mingyu starts. "This matters a lot to both of us, so thank you for having us."

"So... we just wanted to get something straight though before we say anything,” Seungcheol, the leader, starts. "We don't... we can't pay you. I know you've said you're moving from Seoul to here, but we can't offer you a job."

"We know," Mingyu quickly nods, feels Wonwoo nod from next to him too. "We didn't expect that. I told you that I want to open my own law firm here, and Wonwoo does online work mostly, so we're fine."

"You work?" One of the hybrids quickly asks Wonwoo, taken aback.

"Yeah. I write and I edit for a publishing company. I found you because I wanted to donate the money to somewhere."

"Oh," some nod, with some amount of surprise. Mingyu's used to Minghao working and now Wonwoo, but he knows it's not common at all with hybrids.

"So you'll be fine?" The leader asks.

"We'll be fine," Mingyu nods. "I won't be taking a lot of cases, I'll take a few and for low pay because I want to do work for people who can't afford much, so it won't be big. Just me and an assistant, probably, if I can find someone."

"Channie here doesn't have a job. He'll probably be the best assistant you can find," the blonde-haired man from before says with a smirk, and Mingyu sees the boy who welcomed them whine and complain about something under his breath, lightly hitting the blonde-haired man who grins affectionately at him.

"You don't?" Mingyu says, quick, sees him nod.

"I worked at a coffee shop, but it went bankrupt."

"Okay," Mingyu looks at him a bit more intensely. "Let's see then."

"We should maybe introduce ourselves though," someone else says on the right. "We know who you are, but you don't know us. I'm Soonyoung, I studied chemistry but I teach at a dance studio."

"I'm Chan," the boy introduces himself again with a small wave and a smile.

"I'm Jeonghan. I work as an assistant to a psychologist," the blonde-haired man introduces himself, finally. He looks... mysterious, somehow. Mingyu's going to have to keep his eyes on him.

"I'm Seokmin," one of the hybrids starts, his voice cheery and his smile wide, lighting up the energy in the room right away, Mingyu can tell. "I'm a dog hybrid."

"I'm Jihoon," the hybrid next to him goes next, the drop in energy significant. He looks fiery, tiny but probably strong. He's a cat hybrid too, by the looks of his ears.

"Seungcheol. I started this and I actually am a paralegal for a firm, so it will be interesting to have a lawyer here, actually." Paralegal. Interesting.

"Joshua," the soft-spoken man next to him goes next. "I was a lawyer in the US, but here I work as a paralegal in the same firm as Seungcheol." Two of them; the legal focus is quite strong, as Mingyu thought.

"Vernon. I work for a clothing brand."

"And I'm Seungkwan. I work in a department store."

None of them have very high-up jobs; Mingyu assumed, by how much time they must spend here. This looks like their home; Mingyu would not be surprised if it was the home of some of them.

"We are very close-knit. We do this together not only because we believe in what we do, but because we trust each other to do it," Jeonghan starts, and Mingyu feels the protectiveness in his voice. He must be one of the oldest. The undertone is there: you're going to have to fit in.

Mingyu and Wonwoo might have some trouble with that. Mingyu speaks a lot and ruins his already intimidating image fairly often, and Wonwoo is very careful with the people he opens up to in the beginning.

But he thinks it will be alright. They are passionate about what they do. It’s their life, after all.

\---

They move into an apartment in Gwangju two weeks later. It's in the good part of town but still close to the center, a two-bedroom apartment that's nothing like Mingyu's back in Seoul, but it still feels like home. 

Mingyu tells his mom the first night they are settled, Wonwoo looking over his shoulder at his texts. Before they left, they had a heart-to-heart where Mingyu told him all about his rich family and the pressure to break the judgment they always put on him. It's nothing next to Wonwoo's life though, who has gone through so much Mingyu didn't even know what to say, nothing he could’ve felt even coming close to being comforting enough.

Wonwoo squeezes his hand though when he sends the text to his mom and drops his phone, his head falling into his hand.

"It's done now."

Yeah. It's done. Mingyu doesn't think she'll respond; he'll just be cut from the family and that's it.

Maybe his younger sister will want to still reach out to him, but they'll see about that when they cross the bridge. Until then, Mingyu has Wonwoo, Junhui and Minghao, and those nine people that seem like they might grow to be his family.

\---

They also find out a place in Gwangju that is willing to cut the clause from their contract, so, on what is coincidentally 10 months since they met, they get that mark. The chip.

A few weeks later, when they're all working in the living room of their center, Wonwoo and Mingyu still kind of getting used to everything, Jihoon breaks.

"Why did you get that? You're basically... losing your independence. It's not right," He points to Wonwoo's arm, the hoodie arms scrunched to the elbow and the fine silver lines on display. His tone is curious but it holds judgment; Mingyu expected it. When they were telling their stories, Jihoon and Seokmin seemed like two hybrids that were proud of their independence and what they had achieved. Even if they are dating Soonyoung and Jeonghan respectively, they're not "like that."

Wonwoo knows that even if he doesn't feel ashamed of it, he needs to clarify it with them for them to fit in.

"You know, I was actually the one to convince Mingyu to get it. He didn't want to in the beginning, we had a big fight about it."

And then Wonwoo pulls at Mingyu's sleeve, pushes it up his arm, enough to reveal the matching silver lines on Mingyu's right arm.

The shocked gasps run through the room.

Mingyu and Wonwoo spend hours designing them after they had booked the appointment, making them mean something, like those on Wonwoo's arm with Mingyu's name and his birthday and whatever else.

"They mean nothing besides the design for me, it's just a tattoo, but..." It's permanent. For both of them. It's permanent.

"You've never had to rely on sleeping with people to get by, right? Or on spending your time in those kinds of houses?"

Jihoon and Seokmin both shake their heads, hesitant. They both left their "breeding farms", a word which still gives Mingyu chills, when they were 18, had the luck to be taken in by people who didn't want to own them.

"I ran away from an abusive farm owner when I was 16. No shelter would take me in because I was underage, and they risked the wrath of the farm owner. So... I had to do the only thing hybrids were good for: sleeping with people.

One year later, one of the hybrid houses found me and took me in. They didn't ask my age, they didn't ask anything; I was willing to sleep with people, they kept me. Back then... I was young. I fell in love many times, with humans who promised me all kinds of things. That they'd divorce their wives, take me in, treat me nicely. I believed all of them, kept staying there in the expectation that someone would. I could've left. I could've left the house anytime, find a shelter, try to be bought. But I didn't want to because I eventually realized it would never happen. Nobody would want me, so I at least did something, made money." Wonwoo stops, takes in the glances of all of them around the room.

"I've had my independence my whole life. So what I want is not independence; what I want is someone who'd actually want me too, and accept my independence. That's what matters to me."

Mingyu grabs Wonwoo's hand, tangles his fingers with his, squeezing them. Wonwoo doesn't have trouble saying his story; he's not ashamed, not insecure, and not troubled. Wonwoo doesn't need his support, but Mingyu wants to give it.

\---

"My heat's almost done. Won't you do it this time?" Wonwoo climbs in his lap, testing Mingyu's patience. Not like he has a lot anyway. "You're making me think you don't want it."

"Low. That's low," Mingyu huffs at him, Wonwoo playing on the thing that he knows will make Mingyu crack.

"It'll be good for me. I promise," he noses into Mingyu's neck, bites a hickey under his collarbone. "I really fucking want it." His tail strokes over Mingyu's thigh, unfairly soft, teasing. Mingyu puts a hand under his thighs, makes sure Wonwoo's legs are secured around his waist when he stands up.

Wonwoo huffs a noise of surprise but wraps his hands tighter around Mingyu's neck as Mingyu carries him to the bedroom, biting at his skin. He gently lowers both of them to the bed, hovering over Wonwoo for a second before he switches them both around, Wonwoo in his lap.

He's honestly afraid of actually fucking Wonwoo in his heat. They've never done that, and Mingyu could somehow mess up, even if they've done literally everything besides that, and Wonwoo used toys bigger than Mingyu. Some, anyway.

But Wonwoo told him he really wants it, so Mingyu can't do anything but obey.

(Not like he doesn't want it. He's been dreaming about it for months, he's just afraid.)

So he lets Wonwoo set the pace. He insists of opening himself up, putting on a show for Mingyu, who bites his lip and tries not to come in his underwear like a teenage boy at the sight of Wonwoo fingering himself open on his thighs. He holds on to his hips, spurs him on by tugging at his cock, red and hard when Wonwoo decides he's done.

He's not ready. He's not ready when Wonwoo puts his hands on his chest and drops down on him, the heat and wetness enveloping Mingyu driving him insane.

No matter what they did before, nothing could compare to this; to the feeling of being inside Wonwoo. Mingyu imagined it, but nothing translated to this image, to this feeling. Mingyu holds Wonwoo's lithe waist and looks up at him with the adoration that must be reflected in his eyes, watching as Wonwoo bends down over him to kiss him, heated and intense.

Mingyu holds on to him, presses a hand on the dimple on his lower back and holds one around his back, over his shirt, to fuck up into him when Wonwoo demands him to move, the sound filthy in the apartment. Wonwoo's wet, he's so wet Mingyu's sliding inside him so easily, and he's so tight it's insane, arching his back to take Mingyu even deeper.

"Feeling good now?" Wonwoo asks in his ear, Mingyu moaning out a heavy yes, loaded with how much he's feeling.

It's not the most intense, not the heaviest, not the most desperate sex they've ever had. But now, unlike any time before, Mingyu feels connected to Wonwoo in ways he's never had.

Wonwoo gets back up, puts his hands on Mingyu's chest and traces circles with his hips, drawing out loud moans from Mingyu. Wonwoo's going to ruin him, with his sultry looks and bitten lips and red cheeks and Mingyu's sweater on him riding up just enough for Mingyu to see the marks he left on Wonwoo's stomach.

Maybe Mingyu's already ruined. Maybe he is, feeling Wonwoo's slick drip down on him, seeing Wonwoo come untouched, the expression on his face pure ecstasy. Mingyu touches him, prolongs his orgasm and tries to help him hit his spot, kisses him when Wonwoo arches down to breathe on his cheek. Fucks up into him when Wonwoo's thighs tremble with the effort, and only needs a whisper of his name from Wonwoo's mouth next to his ear to come inside him, Wonwoo tightening around him, his arms around Mingyu's neck.

Wonwoo pulls off but doesn't move from Mingyu's arms, no matter how filthy they are. His tail brushes Mingyu's arms on his back, tingling his skin, the fur brushing over his fingers.

"I love you."

It comes out unbalanced, low, imperfect. Mingyu didn't even think before he said it.

Wonwoo freezes in his arms.

Mingyu bolts. Or not bolts, but moves with Wonwoo, getting up and pulling him into the shower. The words go ignored in the frenzy of Mingyu's mind, simultaneously everything there and not at all.

He takes refuge in the kitchen after. Minghao called him and he missed the call so he calls back, Wonwoo walking into the kitchen in the middle of Mingyu chatting withMinghao and Junhui.

The train of conversation disappears from Mingyu's mind, until Wonwoo hugs him tight, burying his head in Mingyu's shoulder. He doesn't say anything, so Mingyu slowly goes back to his conversation.

_"Are they good people?"_

"Yeah, they are," Mingyu answers, referring to the people in their center. "They're great. The work we're doing is great and... I think there will be some breakthroughs coming soon."

_"Hmm. Junhui and I were thinking that... maybe we'll move to Gwangju."_

"Seriously?" Mingyu exclaims, scaring Wonwoo in turn, who looks up at him. Mingyu puts the phone on speaker.

_"Yeah. Hao can work from his computer and my Korean's better than his, so I'll find a job somewhere,"_ Junhui says, and Mingyu can feel his grin through the phone, see Minghao's soft slap to his shoulder.

"We'd love for you to be here," Wonwoo says, picking up the idea, cuddling into Mingyu more. Mingyu puts an arm around his shoulder and kisses the top of his head, just over his ear.

_"Let's talk more later, okay? Drama's coming on, bye,"_ Minghao quickly says and hangs up without hearing any answer. Mingyu chuckles but puts the phone down, wrapping both of his arms around Wonwoo.

"I love you too."

Unlike Mingyu, Wonwoo makes sure his words are loud and clear. Mingyu tears up, because he does, and kisses Wonwoo, whispering them over and over again between their smiling lips.


End file.
